The Last Chance
by kazavid
Summary: Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date:** 18th November 2007

**Author:** Kazavid  
**Chapter: **1/9  
**Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content **  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 1

Present Time

The being, looked across the expanse of water towards Atlantis, the city's lights gleamed and sparkled in the night sky. Nothing looked untoward, or out of place, but he knew all that would change in the blink of an eye.

The erupting sound of the explosion was deafening, he watched as the entire city of Atlantis became a huge fireball, as the explosion tore the city in to a billion pieces. He watched the resulting pieces of the city rain down on to the ocean like dying fireflies. It was a beautiful sight, the multitude of rainbow colours cascading down from the sky, beautiful, but deadly.

This was his one and only time to rectify a mistake that never should have happened. He closed his eyes and thought about what he had to do. His body became a shimmering light that just faded in to the darkness, then he was gone.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John groaned as the pain ripped through his entire body, he clenched his muscles trying to ride out the pain, but it was too much and he could feel himself sinking in to the dark depths of unconsciousness.

"You can't escape from the reality of what's happened John." the voice told him.

"Go away." John muttered, he didn't want to open his eyes. For some reason that he couldn't understand, he knew that if he opened his eyes, he'd be faced with the reality and horror of what had happened, and he knew he wouldn't be able to handle that.

"This is your chance to stop it."

"Shut up, and leave me alone." he bit out harshly, still keeping his eyes closed.

"The longer you ignore me, the less time you have to change things."

John, opened his eyes a fraction, but there wasn't anything to see, just blackness. He sat up and looked all around, nothing but blackness surrounded him.

"Where am I?" he asked, trying to see who he was speaking to.

"You're nowhere."

"Am I dead?" he asked, if this was supposed to be the end, where was this so called light you were supposed to see. He couldn't see anything but blackness, nothing at all.

"Not yet."

"Not yet, so I'm dying?" he concluded.

"You could be."

"Do you ever answer a question, or do you just keep giving out cryptic remarks?" John snorted with disgust.

"Are you ready to listen to what I have to tell you?"

"Doesn't look like I have much choice does it."

"You do have the choice, you can either choose to do something about stopping it, or you can ignore me, and carry on sinking in to oblivion."

"Okay, tell me how I can stop it?"

"Firstly, do you know what it is you'll be stopping, or has your mind already erased the memory?"

"I'm not quite sure, I know something devastating has happened to Atlantis, but I can't seem to remember what it is."

"Look towards your left, you'll see what it is you will have to stop from happening."

John turned to his left and saw nothing but blackness, then the image of Atlantis appeared. He immediately knew something wasn't right, the image of Atlantis should have changed, he knew the city no longer looked like the image that was before him.

He watched as the image of Atlantis exploded, the memory that his mind had tried to erase, came back with a vengeance. The only problem was, he'd been inside Atlantis when it had exploded, and now, he was feeling the intense pain from his injuries. He curled up in to a ball as his mind and body were swamped with so much pain, physical and emotional, that he wondered how on earth he could have survived. Everything, and everyone, was gone, dead, Atlantis no longer existed.

_So where the hell was he_, _he wondered_, moaning as he pulled his arms tighter in to his chest as the pain intensified.

"You can't give in to it, you have to fight." the voice told him.

"How can you fight something that's already happened?" John asked, all he really wanted to do was curl up and die, maybe then he'd find some peace from the pain.

"Do you wish to change the outcome?"

"That's a moot question, and doesn't deserve an answer." John shouted, the pain was worse than anything he'd ever experienced before, and he could feel himself fading.

"John, you have to choose, time is not on your side, and the more you question what is, or what was, only gives you less time to change things."

"What am I choosing?" he asked warily, he wasn't sure he'd still be alive to choose, he could feel the blackness smothering him.

"Whether you want Atlantis to survive or not."

"Of course I want Atlantis to survive." he bit out

"That's all I needed." the voice said.

The pain John had been feeling was suddenly gone, the knowledge that everyone he loved, everyone he cared about, were dead, also felt less painful.

"What did you do?" John asked, moving to sit up, he was still surrounded by blackness.

"I have taken you from your present to your past."

"My past? Really, doesn't look any different to me." John said, looking around at the surrounding blackness.

"You no longer feel pain, do you?"

"Well, no."

"And the knowledge that everyone you loved and cared about are dead, no longer burns in you mind?"

"No, it doesn't." he said, puzzled, how could such a thing not matter to him.

"That is because in this time and place Atlantis hasn't been destroyed yet."

"Where exactly am I?"

"This is four days before Atlantis is destroyed."

"Four days, are you talking time travel here?" John wanted to know.

"Sort of. If I tried to explain to you the concept of where you are, you wouldn't be able to understand it, so accept it as time travel."

"So what happens now?"

"Now, I tell you what you can, and can't, do."

"You mean there's some sort of time travel rule book or something?"

"You could call it that." the being smiled at John's simplistic conclusion as to what was going on.

"The first thing you need to know is that you have four days to stop Atlantis from being destroyed."

"Four days, this wouldn't be an arbitrary number by any chance would it?" John wanted to know, because McKay was always telling him he couldn't give him an exact figure, so he just wanted to make sure.

"No, four days is an exact figure."

"So what do I have to do?"

"Within the four days, you will have five chances to change the outcome of things."

"And what are these chances?"

"The first one is the most important one, if you can stop it from happening, then you won't have to do anything else, you will have succeeded, and Atlantis will be safe."

"And what would this first one be?"

"You must stop Ronon from killing a Wraith on Haltia."

"That's it? Stop Ronon from killing a Wraith. You wouldn't, happen to have anything easier for me to do, would you?" he asked hopefully, he knew trying to stop Ronon from killing a Wraith would be almost impossible to do.

"Your one advantage, is that you have already lived through these four days. So you know what is to happen, use this knowledge wisely."

"So your saying it should be a piece of cake then."

"You must understand John, trying to change what has already happened isn't going to be that easy. Once you start interfering in events, it will change how things turn out, people's reactions will be different, events will alter. The knowledge that you posses of the future, will be altered, sometimes to the point where you will no longer be able to predict what is going to happen, or when."

"I don't suppose you happen to have a manual handy that I could look at?"

"Afraid not. Now there is one other thing, and this is something that you must follow. You can't tell anyone what you know, or what you are doing. If you don't follow this carefully, your little 'time travelling rescue' will suddenly cease to be, along with Atlantis, and yourself."

"So no pressure then." he said sarcastically. "What are the other chances?" he wanted to know.

"The second one involves Teyla, you must stop her from meeting up with an old friend."

"And that's it?"

"Yes, sounds simple, but believe me it won't be, things aren't always as simple as they appear."

"Alright, and the third one?"

"The third one, is Alex. You must not let her touch any of the pieces of the artefact."

"Why not?"

"As soon as she touches the artefact, she will recall seeing a similar artefact on Earth, in Area 51. You can't let that happen."

"And the other chances?"

"The fourth one will be Major Lorne, he will activate a console in the unexplored part of the city. It will reveal a hidden recess inside Atlantis, where another piece of the artefact is hidden, if you can, you must destroy the console before he activates it."

"The fifth one, at all costs you must stop McKay from implementing the artefact in to Atlantis' dialling system."

"And that's it, alter one of these and Atlantis won't blow up?"

"In theory, yes."

"What do you mean 'in theory'?" John didn't like the sound of that.

"You are trying to alter the future, each action has a reaction, change anything and it has a knock on effect which changes everything. No one knows for sure how things will change once you start altering time."

"So all this could be for nothing?"

"Yes, but isn't it worth trying?"

John grimaced, he'd try anything if it stopped everyone he cared about from dying. So he supposed he was right, it was worth it.

"You keep mentioning an artefact, and pieces of artefact, what is this artefact?"

"At one time it used to be made of one complete piece of metal, but it was decided that it would be better, and safer, if it was broken up. So it was broken in to four pieces and scattered throughout the universe. But somehow, the pieces of this artefact, always seem to gravitate towards each other, and in time they invariable end up in the same place."

"And that's what's happened now?"

"Yes."

"What does it do?"

"Once the pieces are assembled it will reveal a gate address, and along with the address it provides a formula for integrating the artefact in to your dialling system."

"So what's wrong with that?"

"The problem is the gate address is incomplete."

"How is it incomplete?"

"It needs a key to properly activate it."

"What kind of key?"

"This key, happens to be a man."

"A man, and who is this man?" John asked, he already had the feeling that he knew who the man was.

"It's you."

"Me, I'm the key?" he just knew he was going to say that.

"Yes."

"So where's the problem, I can just activate it, can't I?"

"Yes, but activating it would have disastrous results."

"How so?"

"You would be opening a portal to a dimension that shouldn't exist, but somehow it does."

"That doesn't really tell me much."

"The only way you could understand it, is if I said it was a gate way to hell." the voice told him.

"Hell! You mean...The Devil and Demon's kind of hell, and all that crap?"

"It's the closet description that you would be able to understand."

"Can't we just shut the Stargate down?"

"I'm afraid once you've started dialling the gate address you can't stop it. And if the key isn't used within a certain time frame, the energy from the Stargate builds to explosive proportions."

"Is that how Atlantis blew up?" John asked.

The voice took a long time to answer his question, and John wondered why, "Yes that's how Atlantis blew up." the voice finally told him, but John felt he wasn't being told everything.

"So best not to dial it in the first place then." John concluded.

"My thoughts exactly."

"Why can't I just pick the artefact up and take it away, get rid of it?"

"You're the only one who can't touch it, not until the time is right."

John grimaced, "Yeah, right, that would have been too easy to do, wouldn't it?" he said sarcastically.

"I would have told you to do that in the first place if it had been possible, but it isn't."

"So how do I contact you if I need help?" John asked.

"You can't contact me, and as for help, that is purely down to circumstances."

"What circumstances?"

"It will depend on what you change, and how strong your desire to succeed is."

"Do you ever give a normal answer, or do you like confusing the crap out of me?" John moaned. "Who are you, exactly?"

"If you succeed in saving Atlantis, I will tell you who I am."

"And if I don't succeed?"

"Then it won't matter who I am will it."

"No, I don't suppose it will."

"Close your eyes, John."

John, reluctantly closed his eyes... felt himself slipping further in to oblivion.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date:** 20th November 2007  
**Author:** Kazavid  
**Chapter: **2/9  
**Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content **  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 2

4 Days Before Atlantis is Destroyed

"John, can you hear me?" someone was shaking him.

"Mm...go away." he said, shrugging his shoulder, as he snuggled down in to the, cold, hard floor. _Cold! Hard floor! What the hell... _he opened his eyes to take a peek.

"You feeling okay?" Alex was leaning over him. He looked around, Teyla was on the other side, Ronon and McKay were standing near his feet, watching with quizzical expression on their faces.

"I feel fine." he pulled himself up in to a sitting position, and looked at his surroundings, all he could see were trees, _where the hell was he._

"What happened?" Alex asked him.

He stared at her, _what did she mean 'what happened' didn't she know, shouldn't she be telling him what had happened._

"What do you mean?" he asked evasively.

"You fainted." McKay said, smiling when John glared at him.

"How many times do I have to tell you McKay, I don't..." John started to state loudly, but before he could finish, McKay butt in.

"Oh that's right, you don't faint, you pass out." he said in a teasingly, sarcastic tone.

John glared at him as he moved his head closer to Alex, "Did I pass out?" he asked her quietly.

"You were walking ahead of us and you just... collapsed." she told him, she'd almost said fainted, but she knew how sensitive he was over the word.

"Where are we?"

"This is Haltia, one of the planets that McKay found in Atlantis' data base." Alex said frowning at him, surely he couldn't have forgotten. She put her hand on the back of his head and rubbed her fingers, feeling for a bump, wondering if he'd banged his head when he'd fallen, she found nothing.

"We're on Haltia already?" he was a little shocked by this. _Damn, it didn't give him much time._ He knew he had to stop Ronon from killing a Wraith, why he had to do this he wasn't too sure about at the moment, all he could remember was how important this was.

"What do you mean, already?" Alex asked.

"Oh, nothing, for a moment I just forgot where we were."

"Can you get up?" Teyla asked him.

"Of course I can get up, I'm fine." he quickly picked himself up off the floor.

Alex and Teyla hovered around him for a few seconds.

"I'm fine." he told them, "Really." he added, but they still hovered.

He pushed passed the both of them and started walking along the path. After a few minutes of walking he began remembering the other time that they'd walked alone here. It was along this path that they encountered the Wraith, he wasn't sure when exactly they met the Wraith, his memory of it hadn't completely returned yet.

"Sheppard, we've got company." Ronon suddenly announced.

"Ronon..." John shouted as he saw Ronon aiming his blaster at a Wraith.

A stunner blast just missed John by inches, he dropped to ground, and began firing back at the Wraith. He recalled that Ronon took out more than one Wraith, and he didn't know which Wraith he was supposed to stop him from killing.

He looked around for Ronon and saw him taking off after a couple of Wraith, he was just about to follow him when Teyla shouted.

"Colonel, behind you."

He turned just in time to shoot at the Wraith guard, before it shot him. _He was going to get himself killed if he didn't stop trying to analyse what was going to happen._ _Why the hell wasn't he given more time to do this, especially since it was the most important one. He hadn't been given enough time to get his bearing, let alone stop Ronon from doing what came instinctively to him. _

It took ages before they killed the remaining Wraith, as soon as the last one fell John took off after Ronon. He remembered Ronon had managed to corner a Wraith, and then he'd taken great pleasure in baiting, and taunting, the thing before killing it. He just hoped that this was the particular Wraith he had to stop him from killing, because it was the last one that Ronon had killed.

John was some distance away from Ronon, but he could see him standing in front of the Wraith, he had his gun lowered and he was waiting for the Wraith to move. When the Wraith moved to the side - intending to escape - Ronon dodged to the same side, he smiled when his action caused the Wraith to stop. He raised his gun and fired a shot to the other side of the Wraith, making it side step away from the shot.

John quickly ran towards Ronon as he saw him raise his blaster and point it at the Wraith, he tried to think of what excuse he could give for not wanting it dead.

"Ronon, I need to talk to that thing, before you kill it." he shouted out before Ronon pulled the trigger.

"Talk to it, what for?" Ronon asked incredulously.

"I just do." he said, giving nothing away.

Ronon turned his head to look at Sheppard, he was curious as to why Sheppard wanted to talk to the Wraith. Ronon turned his head back and saw the Wraith darting away, he growled and aimed his blaster at it. Just as he was pulling the trigger, John knocked his arm down, causing him to miss.

"What the hell's wrong with you, I told you I wanted to talk to it." John shouted at him.

"What's wrong with me? That thing's getting away, so if we don't kill it, we'll be overrun with Wraith within minutes." Ronon bit out, then took off after it. By the time John caught up with him the Wraith was dead.

"Damn it, Ronon! All I asked for is one lousy Wraith, that's all I needed!" he snarled angrily, _damn it, why couldn't he have just listened to him for once. All he had to do was hold off from killing the damn thing and everything would have been fine._

"It's just a Wraith." Ronon said flatly.

"Yeah, and don't I wish that were true." John muttered quietly under his breath. He looked down at the dead Wraith and tried to remember what had happened the first time.

"What's that?" McKay asked, pointing at an object that the Wraith wore around it's neck.

Ronon bent down and tugged the necklace from the dead Wraith, he looked at the piece of metal that was threaded on to a strip of leather, then he tossed it to McKay. John suddenly recalled the voice talking about an artefact, he then remembered everything he'd been told.

"What is it?" he asked, but he already knew that this was the first piece of the artefact. If Ronon hadn't killed the Wraith, they never would have found this thing. He watched as McKay became engrossed in the intricately designed symbols that were etched on to the surface of the metal.

"Whatever it is, this looks like it's just a piece of it." McKay said waving the shard of metal in the air.

"It's probably nothing," John said nonchalantly, "It could even be a Wraith homing device, it might lead them straight to us." he said playing on McKay's fear. "I think you'd better leave it here." he was hoping he could get McKay to throw it away.

"This isn't Wraith technology, I've never seen anything like it before."

"If you've never seen it before, how do you know it isn't Wraith." Sheppard tried to reason.

"I'd bet my life on it, there is no way this thing is Wraith."

Sheppard knew he wasn't going to succeed in getting McKay to throw the blasted thing away, so he gave up. Well he still had four more chances, he'd just have to try harder with the next one.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

In the Jumper heading back to Atlantis, John was thinking about the next four days. He remembered most things, but some of it was still hazy, the voice had told him he'd remember the four days, but he knew he wasn't remembering everything, something was missing, but he didn't know what.

"So what did you want to speak to the Wraith about?" McKay asked him while they were still in the Jumper.

"Forget it, it was nothing." Sheppard said dismissively.

"It must have been something, come on what was it?"

"I said forget it McKay."

"But, surely you..."

"DROP IT!" Sheppard retorted sharply, causing everyone to stare at him.

"Sleepless nights catching up with him?" Teyla whispered to Alex.

Alex grimaced at Teyla, "Probably." she whispered back, she turned her head to look at John, wondering if his little fainting spell had something to do with why he was so short tempered. Because she certainly knew it wasn't sleepless nights.

They got back to Atlantis and had a briefing with Colonel Carter. When they mentioned the shard of metal they'd taken from the dead Wraith, she insisted that McKay have the thing checked for any kind of energy signature. And she wanted his assurance that it really wasn't a homing beacon, or any other kind of Wraith technology.

Carter also insisted that John got looked at by Doctor Keller, she wanted to make sure he wasn't sick, and that he hadn't picked up any bugs while he was off world. Doctor Keller gave him the all clear.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Alex went to pick the baby up from the baby minder, and take him back to their quarters. As soon as she entered their quarters John lifted the baby from her arms.

"Hey there fella." he said as he began teasing and lifting Aaron up in the air. The baby was now five months old, and he responded to John's antics by smiling and gurgling.

"I wouldn't do too much of that if I were you, not when you're just about to feed him." Alex said, smiling when John pulled a face.

"You wouldn't throw up on your dad, would you." he said, cradling his son in his arms.

He had to stop himself from dwelling on the fact that in a few days he could lose all this, Alex, Aaron, everyone on Atlantis... he closed his eyes trying to push the thought to the back of his mind for a while.

He sat down in the chair, holding the baby against his chest, he picked up the bottle of formula and began feeding Aaron. He enjoyed feeding the baby, found it relaxing, and it was another way for him to feel close to his son.

Before he'd drunk the full bottle of formula, Aaron fell asleep, so John put him in his cot and walked on to the balcony to join Alex.

Standing behind her, he draped his arms around her and pulled her back till she was leaning against his chest, he rubbed his cheek against her hair and kissed her. They didn't need to say anything, they were comfortable just holding one another.

The thoughts he'd tried to push to the back of his mind kept surfacing, kept playing in his mind, and he couldn't shake it. He'd already thought about trying to evacuate everyone off Atlantis, but he knew, without being told, that if he attempted to do something like that, everything would be over much sooner.

"Come to bed." he had a sudden need to be with her, wanted to forget about the horror of what would happen if he didn't manage to stop, or change things.

He undressed her and pushed her back on the bed, then watched her, as she watched him undressing. He found it very arousing watching her watch him, she looked at him with so much desire, and longing in her eyes, it made him feel special.

He rested on the bed, beside her, letting his hands explore, stroking, kissing, caressing, every single inch of her skin. He began kissing his way down her body, lingering on her breasts until she was writhing with pleasure. He slowly worked his way down her body using his mouth, placing kisses, and licking his tongue over her soft, silken skin. Nudging her thighs apart, he moved to settle between them, he placed several small kissed on and around her sex, smiling when she squirmed with ecstasy at his touch.

He rubbed his thumb against her clitoris, slicking it back and forth across her, giving just the right amount of pressure to have her writhing and moaning for release. Then he lowered his mouth down and dipped his tongue in, parting the delicate folds, and tasting her. He stroked his tongue across her, over and over till she cried out that she couldn't take any more. He knew she could take more, so he carried on teasing her until she began to jerk her hips against him. As soon as he flicked his tongue across her sensitive clitoris, he brought her to a climax.

He began kissing his way back up her body, intending to make love to her, but before he could slide his erection in to her, she switched their positions. He was flat on his back and Alex was kissing her way down his body. Her mouth found his most sensitive spot, and he found himself grabbing handfuls of bed sheet as her mouth engulfed him. Her tongue was hot and soft against his shaft as she stroked and sucked her way along the whole length. She kept up the onslaught of pleasure until he couldn't take any more, he dragged her up, turning till she was beneath him, and thrust his erection inside her.

Holding her tightly, he pressed his face in to the curve of her neck, he didn't want her to look to closely in to his eyes, didn't want her to see the horror and pain that he knew she'd see there, because he couldn't seem to erase it from his thoughts. He bit back a moan as he drove in to her, over and over, trying to erase the painful memories of what had happened. He just wanted a few moments without knowing that all this could end.

When Alex began to climax, and he felt her trembling in his arms, he was able to find his own release. The shattering pulse of pleasure, as he came, gave him those few precious moments that he needed, to forget about everything, except what he was feeling right now.

Alex fell asleep in his arms, but he stayed awake till the early hours of the morning, trying to remember everything the voice had told him, trying to come up with ways to change things. It sounded simple and straightforward, but he knew it wasn't going to be like that, nothing ever was that simple.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date:** 22nd November 2007  
**Author:** Kazavid  
**Chapter: **3/9  
**Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content ( not sure of others yet )**  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 3

3 Days Before Atlantis is Destroyed

He was running through the corridors of Atlantis, someone was chasing him, he didn't know who was chasing him, and he didn't want to turn around to find out.

Something didn't feel right, he didn't feel like he was in control of his actions. Suddenly he stopped as he came face to face with Ronon.

"Hey buddy, you wouldn't shoot me, would you?" John raised his hands up in defeat, but he kept moving to the side, taking slow even paced steps, edging around Ronon. Inside his mind he was screaming at Ronon to run, not to trust him, but he couldn't get the words to come out of his mouth.

"Don't give me a reason to shoot you." Ronon told him.

"Look Ronon, you saw what happened when McKay dialled that address, all I'm trying to do is stop it from happening again." he said in his defence.

"Fine, let Doctor Keller take a look at you and run some tests. Then you can tell us what's going on."

John smiled sardonically, "Sorry, can't let you do that." he reached behind his back.

Ronon tightened his finger on the trigger and fired...

John pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants and aimed at Ronon, he watched as the bullets ripped in to Ronon's chest, saw the blood staining the front of his chest.

As he watched Ronon drop to the floor, he knew he was dead.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John snapped his eyes open as he came out of the nightmare, his heart was racing, and he was covered in sweat. It had seemed so real, and he could still feel the horror of what he'd done screaming in his mind. All the time he was confronting Ronon, he'd been shouting at him, not to believe what he was saying, telling him to get the hell away while he still could.

He shook himself out of the feeling of the nightmare as he became aware of where he really was.

Alex had her head on his chest, and she was still asleep, he reached over to the table and looked at his watch, 5.30am. He'd only had a few hours sleep, but he didn't feel tired, his mind had been too active with what he had to do. He carefully moved Alex to the side and tucked the covers around her as he got out of bed.

As he passed the cot, he checked on the baby, like Alex, Aaron was still asleep. He quickly showered and dressed, he kissed Alex and the baby and then left for the mess hall, maybe a cup of coffee would help him to think more clearly about what had to be done.

Today, in the previous time line, he'd taken Teyla to meet her friend Rylan. He'd dropped her off and then he'd come back to Atlantis, where he'd done some paperwork, and had a few words with McKay about the artefact. Then he and Alex had gone to lunch. He wasn't sure if he should do the same things he'd done previously or change them. But if he changed them too much, the voice had told him he wouldn't be able to predict what would happen.

Well, the first thing he had to do something about, was Teyla.

So how was he going to tell Teyla that he wouldn't be taking her to visit with her friend, what excuse could he possible come up with that she'd believe. He noticed Major Lorne and his team entering the mess hall, they grabbed some food and sat down to eat. He knew Lorne was meeting with one of the local colonies. He was taking a load of equipment to them, maybe this could be his way to get Teyla away from her friend, he could get Lorne to take Teyla with him.

He got up and walked over to Lorne, "Major Lorne, still going to M5T 492?" he asked.

"Yes sir, we're scheduled to leave at 0.800 hours."

"I was thinking that you should take Teyla with you."

Lorne frowned and wondered why Colonel Sheppard thought that, it wasn't like they were making any kind of negotiations. This was just a simple case of delivering some equipment, setting it up and showing them how to work it.

"You think Teyla should go?" Lorne asked.

"Yes I do. You know what some of these people are like, they have rituals and certain ways of doing things, and they don't like it when you don't follow them. So if you took Teyla with you, at least she could do all the talking, and interacting with the locals, keep them off your back while you set things up."

"Okay, if you really think we should take her." Lorne wasn't convinced he should take Teyla, but he couldn't come out and tell his C/O that.

"I do." John said, he was feeling pleased with himself.

Lorne was just about to leave when John spoke up.

"And Major,... under no circumstances are you to take Teyla to visit with her friend." he told him.

"Sir?" Lorne was puzzled by Sheppard's request.

"If she asks you to drop her off so that she can visit her friend, don't do it. And that's an order." John told him, more sternly.

"Of course, sir." Lorne walked away feeling very confused by the whole thing. Something didn't feel right, but it wasn't up to him to question orders, all he had to do was follow them, however strange they may seem.

John wasn't looking forward to telling Teyla that she couldn't see her friend. Nor to the fact that she would be accompanying Major Lorne to M5T 492. He took a deep breath and headed over to her room.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"But I was supposed to be meeting Rylan today." Teyla told John, she had been looking forward to seeing her old friend. She hadn't seen him for almost two years, and the only opportunity she had to see him was today. Tomorrow he would be gone, and she didn't know how long it would be before she would get the opportunity to see him again.

"I know that, but we really need you to go with Major Lorne."

"Why? Are they not just delivering equipment to the village?"

"Yes, but you know how these guys are, they can be a bit impatient with things. And I'd hate for them to cause any problems with our allies, so I really need you to go with them."

Teyla sighed, she couldn't see the need for her presence, but if Colonel Sheppard thought that she should go, then she'd go. "Alright, I will get ready." she told him.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." he told her.

John headed to the Gate room, where he deliberately waited, making sure Teyla and Lorne went through the Stargate. He told Lorne to take his time setting things up, he wanted Teyla out of the way till at least late tonight. As soon as Lorne and Teyla had left he went to his office, he needed to come up with a better plan of action.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

He sat in his office scribbling on a piece of paper, putting down the details of what he remembered of the previous time line. Today Teyla had met her friend, well he'd taken care of that, so he could cross that off, for now. Tomorrow Alex touched the artefact and Lorne activated the console, he could probably keep Alex from touching the artefact, just by keeping her with him, she might not like it, but it would only be for the day. The console, he already had an idea for getting rid of that.

If he could stop any of these three things from occurring then he wouldn't need to stop McKay from integrating the artefact in to the dialling system. He tried to remember the last day, but he couldn't, the only thing he could recall was McKay saying the artefact was complete. After that the next image was of Atlantis exploding. There was a lot of time missing in between the artefact becoming complete and Atlantis being destroyed, but he couldn't remember what it was.

He stared at the piece of paper, he didn't know what else to do, he couldn't tell anyone what he was doing or why he was doing it. He grabbed the piece of paper and tore it to bits, dropping it in to the waste paper bin as he left his office. First thing he needed to do was grab some C4, and destroy the console that Lorne activated, it was crude, but it was effective.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

As he was passing McKay's lab he glanced in and froze at what he saw. Alex was holding her hand out towards McKay, and he was reaching across towards her, the piece of artefact in his hand. _What the hell was going on, she wasn't supposed to touch the artefact until tomorrow_.

He raced in to the lab and yanked Alex back by the collar, causing her to stumble against him. McKay let go of the artefact and watched the piece of metal, drop, unhindered, to the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" John shouted at her.

Alex was a little shocked by being jerked back so forcefully, and even more shocked when John proceeded to shout at her for no apparent reason.

"What's wrong?" she asked, turning to face him.

"Did you touch that thing?" he asked her harshly.

Alex frowned at him, he was staring at her, waiting for her to answer him.

"Touch what?" she asked.

"That thing?" he said pointing at the piece of artefact that McKay was picking up from the floor. "Did you touch it?" he asked again, a little louder and a lot more angrier.

"Why?" she wanted to know, she took a step back from him when he scowled at her, she'd never seen him looking so angry. She went to take another step back but he grabbed her arm, tightly.

"Just tell me...did you touch it?" he shouted, glaring at her.

She tried to tug her arm free, "John, let go... you're hurting." she told him.

Ronon had been walking passed when he'd heard Sheppard shouting, so he entered the lab to see what was going on. He heard Alex asking Sheppard to let her go, and he noticed that Sheppard ignored her request.

"Sheppard?" Ronon said, his tone of voice questioning as he moved closer to Sheppard and Alex.

"Stay out of this." John said, he didn't even look at Ronon as he spoke, he kept his eyes on Alex, waiting for her to answer him.

"Tell me, did you touch that artefact?" he asked her, again.

Alex was too shocked by his behaviour to answer him, and she couldn't understand why he wanted to know if she'd touched it or not.

He bit out a curse when she didn't answer him, his fingers tightened on her arm causing her to wince.

Ronon decided he'd seen enough. "I think you should take a walk." he told him, as he removed Sheppard's hand from Alex's arm.

"You don't understand." he shouted in frustration.

"Right now I don't think anyone understands, so maybe you should take a walk and calm down. Then later you can come back and explain to us what it is we don't understand." Ronon told him.

McKay was staring at him, wide eyed, and nervous. Alex was looking at him a little anxiously, and Ronon was frowning, trying to fathom what was going on with him.

"I wouldn't have hurt her?" he told Ronon, realising what they must be thinking.

"I think you've already hurt her." Ronon told him, as he glanced at Alex who was rubbing her hand over her arm.

John looked at her, she looked more confused than anything else, but he hadn't meant to hurt her, he'd just been shocked at seeing her reaching out for the artefact. She wasn't supposed to touch that thing until tomorrow, so why had things changed. The voice had told him, once he started to interfere in things, that he wouldn't be able to predict how things happened. Then what was the use of having this knowledge of future events if it changed so quickly.

"Sheppard." Ronon said.

"Maybe you're right, maybe I should take a walk." He said, he really needed to think things through. He turned to walk out of the lab, but he stopped by the doorway and looked back at Alex.

"Promise me you won't touch that artefact." he asked, looking at her with a pleading expression on his face. She was still a little shocked by everything, so she just nodded her head at him, it seemed to satisfy him because he left.

"What was all that about?" Ronon asked her.

"I have absolutely no idea. He just came in here and started asking me if I'd touched that thing." she told him, pointing at the artefact that Rodney was holding.

She wanted to go after him and ask him what was wrong, but the way he was acting she wasn't sure about what kind of reception she'd get. Ever since Haltia she'd sensed that something was bothering him. But when she'd asked him, he'd just told her he was tired and overworked, she didn't believe that.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John grabbed the C4 and headed towards the room where the console was, at least this was something he could get right. The voice had told him to use the knowledge of the future wisely, so far he didn't seem to have done anything wisely.

He knew, why Alex had been in McKay's lab, or at least had an idea what had gone wrong. In the previous time line, she'd been with Teyla, but because he'd sent Teyla with Lorne, he'd put Alex at a loose end. He would have to be very careful of how he changed things.

This really wasn't going to be that easy.

He stood in the doorway and looked around at all the consoles that filled the room. He didn't specifically remember which console it was that Lorne activated, but he knew it was in this room.

He placed the charges around the room, making sure that every console in the room would be destroyed. He set the timer and left, giving himself just enough time to get back to the Gate room before the C4 blew. He'd been in the Gate room for a few minutes, before the explosion reverberated around the city.

"What the hell was that?" Carter asked, rushing from her office as the explosion rocked the city. Alarms began to sound and people started to panic.

"I'll find out." John told her, he asked the technician to locate where the explosion had originated from.

"It's in the South sector of the city, sir." he was told.

"Lieutenant Andrews, meet me in the South section, ASAP, with a security detail." John told one of the security teams.

"Yes sir."

"Colonel take a medical team with you, just in case anyone was injured." Carter told him.

"Will do." he shouted, rushing out of the Gate room and heading to the South section.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John stood in the room and surveyed the damage, all he could see was the debris from the destroyed consoles. Well at least Major Lorne wouldn't be able to activate the console, he thought, smiling. He'd finally done something right.

Would the voice come and tell him that he'd succeeded, or would he have to wait the remaining days out.

"Sir, it looks like sabotage." Lt. Andrews stood in front of him, several bits of mechanisms from the timer in his hand.

"Sabotage," John repeated, he glanced around the room, "But why would someone want to blow up this room, there wasn't anything in it." he pointed out, he had to play out the scenes as normal, keep up the pretence.

"I don't know sir."

"Get Zelenka up here, lets see if he can come up with anything."

"Yes sir."

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John reported back to Colonel Carter.

"It looks like someone deliberately set a bomb off." he told her as he leaned on the balcony just outside her office.

"It doesn't make any sense," Carter frowned, "I mean the only thing in there was a few consoles. What purpose would anyone have for wanting to blow it up?" she asked.

"I've got Zelenka looking in to it, see if he can come up with anything that could give us a clue as to who did it, or why they did it."

"Keep me posted on any findings." she told him.

"Will do."

"Has Major Lorne returned yet?" Carter asked him.

John looked at his watch, it was 4.45pm, well passed the time that Teyla had met her friend. "No he hasn't returned yet, you want me to send him to you when he gets back?"

"No, tomorrow will do." Colonel Carter said as she went back in her office.

"Fine, I'll see how Zelenka's doing."

As John walked along the corridor he saw Alex carrying Aaron and going in to the mess hall with Rodney, he grimaced, trust him to get it wrong with her. He just hoped she was in a forgiving mood later, he really didn't want to be at odds with her, not now.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date: **16th December 2007  
**Author:** Kazavid  
**Chapter: **4/9  
**Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content **  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 4

Lorne and Teyla didn't return from M5T 942 till after 7.00pm, and John was there to greet them. He had a few words with Lorne to find out if she'd asked to see her friend, but Lorne assured him that she hadn't even mentioned him.

He headed to his quarters, there wasn't much else he could do, he'd done all he could for today. He'd have to wait and see what developed for tomorrow, hopefully he'd done enough today, so anything he did tomorrow could be considered a bonus.

He lifted his head back and rolled his neck to the side, trying to ease the tension from it. When he entered his quarters, Alex wasn't there, so he took a quick shower hoping it would help ease the tension away.

When he'd finished showering he pulled on jog pants and a t shirt and walked out of the bathroom, Alex was sitting in the chair holding Aaron. She looked up at him her expression a little wary. He didn't blame her, he had been pretty abrupt with her today.

He leaned down and loosely draped his arms around her and the baby, and kissed the top of her head and then the baby's, "I'm sorry for the way I acted with you today, forgive me?" he said resting his forehead against hers.

"Why were you so upset?" she asked, pulling her head back so that she could look at him.

"I just don't want you touching that thing."

"Why, what's wrong with it?" she wasn't going to give up.

"I don't like it." he said, lowering his eyes, not looking at her as he spoke.

"I don't believe that. Something else is bothering you, now tell me what's it is." she rested the baby against her shoulder.

"Nothing is bothering me." he said evasively, he stood up and started rubbing the towel over his damp hair.

"Don't lie to me, I know something is bothering you, so tell me." she knew he was lying, and she wanted to know why.

"I'm just tired with all the work, and the late nights."

He still wouldn't look at her. "I don't believe that either, you're hiding something..." she said, watching him closely.

"Alex..." he groaned, he couldn't tell her the truth no matter how much he wanted to.

"Just tell me what it is." she said exasperated by his refusal to say.

"Trust me, it's nothing." he said, he dropped the towel on the floor and leaned down to kiss her, hoping he could distract her from her questioning.

He could see it wasn't working, she didn't believe him, "Look, just give me a couple of days, then I promise, I'll tell you everything." he said, smiling at her, "You never said if you forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you, I just don't like it when you keep things from me, and you are, I know it. But I'll give you a few days, then I want the truth from you." she warned him.

"I Promise." he whispered, and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Want me to put him in his cot?" he asked when he saw that Aaron had fallen asleep.

"Sure, I'll just take a shower while your doing that." she passed the baby to him and went to take a shower.

He sat in the chair Alex vacated, and held the baby for a while, before he put him in his cot.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Alex pulled on pyjama bottoms and a sleeveless top, twisting her hair up she placed a clip in it to keep it back from her face. John was sitting in the chair, leaning forward, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck.

"Headache?" she asked as she stopped beside him.

He looked up, "Mm, just a bit sore." he wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her to stand between his legs. Lifting her t shirt up he pressed his cheek against her abdomen. Just feeling the warmth of her skin beneath his cheek helped to ease some of the tension he was feeling.

When she started stroking her hands over the back of his head, and down his neck, he groaned with pleasure. He kissed her stomach then rubbed his cheek against the heat of her skin, he didn't want to move, he wanted to stay like this, let her stroke away the tension and the fear that clouded his thoughts.

After a few minutes he moved, intending to get up.

"Don't move, stay there." she told him. Moving out of his arms, she grabbed a couple of pillows and stuffed them behind his back. Then she sat behind him, on top of the pillows, which lifted her up slightly. She rested her legs on either side of his waist.

"Take your shirt off." she pushed at his shirt till he pulled it off and threw it on the bed.

She started by smoothing her hands across his shoulders and neck. She rested her hands on his back, and began to rotate her thumbs firmly against the tense muscles at the back of his shoulders. He groaned and arched his back at the touch, which was slightly painful, but it was helping to ease the tension.

"I'm not hurting you am I?" she leaned forward and kissed the back of his neck.

"No, it feels good." he whispered, he leaned his head forward as she pressed her mouth and then her fingers over the back of his neck. His hands rested on her legs, and he began absently stroking them along the outside of her thighs.

She carried on massaging him, working her hands down his back, careful not to press on his spine. Every so often she placed a kiss on his back or against his neck. He started to lean back against her, his body became more languid as she slowly kneaded the tension away.

"Not falling asleep on me are you?" she asked, leaning her head over his shoulder.

"Not yet." he murmured, but he was starting to feel sleepy.

"Why don't you lie on the bed." she suggested, she could tell he wanted to fall asleep.

"I'm too comfortable to move." he leaned further back and turned his head to the side so he could grab a kiss from her. He didn't want to move, he was enjoying the massage too much, and he didn't want it to end just yet.

"You'll be more comfortable on the bed." she said, pushing her hands against his back until he finally got up.

He stretched out on his stomach while Alex straddled his back and continued with the massage, slowly kneading her hands across his shoulders and back. When she heard the deep even breathing that told her he'd fallen asleep, she stopped massaging him. After checking that the baby was alright she grabbed a blanket and threw it over John, she joined him under the blanket, snuggling up against his side, where she fell asleep.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

He was standing in the corridor, facing Alex, she had a stunner pointed at him, and she kept glancing around, looking for someone, or something.

"John, you have to stop what you're doing." she told him, backing away as he advanced towards her.

The thoughts that were running through his mind weren't his own, they couldn't be. There is no way he would want to hurt Alex, he'd rather die before he did that. He looked down at the knife he held in his hand, he wasn't in control, and he didn't know what to do.

All of a sudden the image changed, Alex was now lying on the floor, her body covered in blood. Lying on the floor beside her was the knife he'd been holding. He raised his hands up and looked at them, so much blood...

He jerked upright in the bed, his body was drenched in sweat, his eyes slowly, adjusted to the blackness that was all around him. He realised that he was in his room, he looked to the side of him and saw Alex asleep. He looked at his watch, it was 3.00am, he'd only been asleep for a few hours.

He dropped back down and closed his eyes, the images from the dream where still fresh in his mind. He'd had plenty of nightmares before, but not like these ones, these felt so real. He got out of bed and went in to the bathroom, he took a cloth and ran it under the water and wiped the damp cloth over his body, shivering when the cold cloth touched his heated skin.

All this must be getting to him, all his fears about what would happen if he didn't succeed. Wondering if he was doing enough, could he do something else, but he didn't know what else to do. He went back in to the bedroom and got in to bed. He pulled Alex in to his arms and tried to sleep.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

2 Days Before Atlantis is Destroyed

It was very early morning when Teyla headed towards the training room to do some exercises. A young female marine was already there doing her own exercises, when she saw Teyla she came over to her.

"Teyla, did you get the message from your friend?" the young woman asked her.

Teyla smiled at her, "Hi Miranda, a message... no, I haven't received any message. Did Rylan leave a message? Do you know what the message was about?" Teyla asked her.

"Yes, I was in the Gate room earlier when Rylan managed to get a message through to us, he said to tell you that he was going to stay on an extra few hours. So if you wanted to meet with him, he'd be waiting."

Teyla was surprised and very happy, "He did, that's wonderful news, thank you for telling me."

Teyla left the training room pleased that she would get to see Rylan. She went to see Colonel Carter, so she could get permission to go off world.

An hour later and Teyla was going through the Stargate to meet with Rylan.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"I don't know about you having late nights, but this is certainly a late morning." Alex whispered against his ear.

She stroked her hand down his chest, moved passed the waistband of his pyjamas, and slid it further down over his groin, where she felt the stirrings of his erection.

"Oh, yes... keep going." he groaned, as she stroked him through the jog pants he still had on.

He turned on to his side and pulled her in to his embrace, pressing his mouth, hotly, over her neck and shoulder. Shuddering with pleasure, as she worked her hand over his burgeoning shaft.

"Colonel Sheppard!" the faint voice came from his comms that was on the bedside table.

"Not now." he groaned at the interruption, his mouth was just inches from Alex's breast, he rested his head against her chest.

"Colonel Sheppard!" the voice sounded a little louder.

"No escaping I'm afraid." he grimaced.

"Pity, just when it was getting interesting." Alex teased, squeezing her hand around his erection before he rolled over to grab his comms and put it against his ear.

"Colonel Sheppard here, what is it?"

"Colonel could you come down to Doctor Zelenka's lab right away." Colonel Carter asked him.

"Sure, what is it?" he asked watching as Alex got out of the bed to check on Aaron.

"I'll tell you when you get here." she said cautiously.

"Okay, be there as soon as I can." he told her.

"What is it?" Alex asked, turning around to look at him, while she began to change Aaron.

"Colonel Carter, she didn't say, but she wants me to go to Zelenka's lab."

"Maybe they've found out who planted the bomb." Alex said absently.

He tensed slightly at her remark, "Maybe they have."

He entered the bathroom to take a quick shower, he wondered what Carter wanted to see him about. It might not even have anything to do with the explosion so he wasn't that worried. When he finished showering he got dressed and went to see Colonel Carter.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Colonel Carter and Doctor Zelenka where standing in the lab talking as he entered.

"So what is it?" he walked over to them and stopped. He noticed several pieces of debris strewn about the work benches.

"Colonel, you know Dr Zelenka and his team took several samples of debris out of the room where the explosion occurred." Carter said.

"Yes, so?" he frowned, and looked straight at her.

"Well they've been running some simple tests on them, and they managed to come up with a slightly unusual result." Carter told him, she was watching him closely, too closely, almost as if she were looking for a reaction from him.

He played it cool, "What kind of result?" he asked.

"One of the pieces of debris had a fingerprint on it."

He wasn't sure if he reacted to this piece of news, he didn't think he did, and Carter wasn't acting as if she saw anything, "It did?" he queried.

"Yes."

"So who's fingerprint is it?" he asked calmly.

"It's yours." she told him, not in an accusatory way, no she just sounded like she was stating a fact.

"Mine." he laughed, "It was probably something I touched when we went to check the explosion out." he said, he folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against one of the work benches.

"No, that's what they assumed at first, but after running the tests again they discounted that possibility. This print happened before the explosion, they know this because of where the print was."

"Why where was it?" he wanted to know.

"It was situated beneath the residue of chemicals that occurs after the explosion."

"You think I blew up an empty room?" he laughed wryly.

"No, I don't believe you'd do something like that. But I'm just wondering if you've been in that room before the explosion. That would explain the fingerprint."

"I don't know, I've been in lots of rooms in Atlantis, I can't remember every one of them." he didn't want to jump on the excuse she'd given just in case she got suspicious.

"Well I think that's probably how it got there in the first place, so we'll put the finding down as accountable. That should satisfy anyone who reads the report." she said dismissively.

"Did you really think it was me?" he asked, frowning at her.

"No, but you know how some of these IOA guys are for official records."

He smiled, "Sure, no problem." he moved to leave then stopped, "Anything else you need me for?"

"No, not at the moment." Carter told him.

After John had left the lab Zelenka turned to Colonel Carter.

"Surely you don't suspect Colonel Sheppard of doing something like that do you?" Zelenka asked her.

"No, I don't think he'd do something like that, but I needed to get it on record that he was cleared of it."

"Of course, I understand. Do you want me to continue testing the debris."

"Yes, keep testing it, we need to find out why someone wanted to blow that room up, there must have been a reason. Even if it was only as a distraction, I'd still like to know." Sam told him.

"Okay, I'll have my people run more tests."

"Thank you."

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"So what did Sam want?" Alex wanted to know when John returned back to their room.

"It was nothing, they found a fingerprint of mine among the debris from the explosion."

"Don't tell me they thought you caused that explosion?" she said incredulously.

"No, but she needed to discount it just the same."

"So what have you got planned for today?" she asked, when she finished dressing Aaron, she sat him on the bed. John laid out across the bed, and started teasing the baby, playfully.

"I don't have a lot to do." he admitted. He'd done enough yesterday, so all he had to do today – and he wasn't sure he had to do it – was keep Alex with him, to make sure she didn't touch the artefact that McKay had.

"How about spending the day with me." he asked.

"Doing what?" she asked a little suspicious.

"Doing nothing, just being with me."

She looked at him warily, he was up to something, she could tell.

"What's the matter, don't you want to spend the day with me?" he grabbed her and pulled her down on to the bed, where he manoeuvred her beneath him.

"What are you up to?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I'm not up to anything, I just want to spend the day with you." he leaned down and kissed her, then raised his head to look at her. "So?"

"This has something to do with that artefact doesn't it?" she watched the veil come down over his eyes. "It is isn't it?" she prompted.

"No, I just want to be with you, it has nothing to do with that thing." he rolled over on to his back. Alex rolled on to her side so that she could look at him.

"Alright, I'll spend the day with you... only if you admit that you're doing this because of the artefact."

He grimaced, "Okay, part of it is to do with the artefact." he told her.

"I really don't understand what your problem is with that thing." she sighed.

He didn't say anything to her, he just got up and grabbed Aaron, then he took hold of her hand to pull her up and headed out the door.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Everything had gone fine for a few hours, Alex had dropped the baby off with a minder, then she and John had taken a walk around Atlantis. She'd helped him with some paperwork, which had bored the hell out of her, so that hadn't lasted long. They'd gone for lunch, and it was a few hours after lunch when things had suddenly gone wrong.

While they were in the Gate room dropping off the finished reports, John remarked that he hadn't seen Teyla around. He shouted over to one of Teyla's friends, asking where Teyla was, but the friend didn't know where she was.

One of the technician's in the Gate room told him that Teyla had gone to visit her friend.

"She's gone where?" John asked with disbelief.

"She went to visit her friend." the technician replied.

"How can she be visiting her friend, he was supposed to have left yesterday." _what the hell was going on, he wondered._

"He stayed on another day so that he could see Teyla."

John clenched his jaw as his anger started simmering, "How long has she been gone?" he bit out.

"Just over four hours." he was told.

"Four hours." he repeated, he couldn't believe it, the guy was supposed to have left yesterday. _How the hell was he supposed to change things, it's not like he can keep tabs on everyone 24/7, that just wasn't possible, so what the hell was he supposed to do. _

He slammed his fist down on the desk in frustration, the laptop that had been resting there got the full force of his anger, it's outer casing cracked. The technician who was sitting at the desk, jerked back in shock as John's fist connected with the computer.

Alex quickly grabbed hold of his arm. "John, what's going on?" she asked him, she was a little shocked by his behaviour. Whatever was bothering him, he'd better sort it out soon, or someone was going to get hurt.

"It should have changed." he bit out.

"What should have changed, what are you talking about?" Alex asked as she pulled him away from the desk and the worried looking technician. "Do you know something about Teyla's friend?"

"I... no, it's nothing..." he said curtly.

He looked around the Gate room, what he was looking for she didn't know, "Come on." he grabbed her hand and led her along the corridor. "Ronon, where are you?" he asked in his comms.

"I'm in the training room, why?"

"I need you to do me a favour."

"What are you doing?" Alex asked him, but she didn't get an answer, he just tightened his hold on her hand, causing her to wince.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"So what's the favour." Ronon asked, his eyes not missing the fact that Sheppard seemed to be holding Alex's hand in a death grip.

"I want you to keep her away from McKay, and that artefact." he told him straight out.

Ronon raised his brows at the unusual request. "Why?" he asked him.

"Doesn't anybody trust anyone around here any more?" John bit out, _why did everyone want to know 'why'._

"I don't need anyone to stop me from doing something." Alex shouted, she was getting fed up with him going on about this blasted artefact.

"Do either of you trust me?" he asked pointedly, looking between Ronon and Alex, neither of them spoke. "Can't I ask for a favour without having to explain why?"

"How long do you want me to keep her with me?" Ronon asked.

Alex hung her head down, he made her feel guilty, like she didn't trust him, but she did. _Okay, so maybe she'd let it go this once and really trust him, but he'd better explain himself later on, she thought. _

"Just an hour or so, that's all."

"Okay, I'll do it." Ronon said.

"Alex?" John looked at her.

"I'll stay with Ronon."

"Thanks." he said, he leaned over, kissed her and then left.

"Do you think he's acting rational." Alex asked Ronon while she stared at the door John had just left through,.

"No." Ronon replied, he turned his head to look at her.

"Neither do I." she said returning his look with a frown.

"So what do you think is up with him?" Ronon asked her.

"I don't know, but we'd better find out soon or someone could get hurt." she said.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date: **19th December 2007  
**Author:** Kazavid  
**Chapter: **5/9  
**Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content **  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 5

John headed to the furthest part of Atlantis, a place where no one ever went, a place where he knew he wouldn't be disturbed.

Standing on the windswept balcony, he stared out over Atlantis, he kept thinking about what the voice had told him. Any help he needed would depend upon circumstances and how strong his desire to succeed was. Well his desire to succeed was pretty strong, so where was the help he needed.

"I need to know if I've changed anything?" he shouted out loudly.

He looked around hoping he'd see something, anything, that told him he wasn't talking to himself. He didn't even mind if he was suddenly surrounded by total blackness, at least then he'd know someone, or something, was there.

"I know you can hear me." he shouted louder, he was angry by the lack of a response. "Can't you just tell me if I've done enough, if I've managed to change anything?" he bit out. When he still didn't get any response he sat down on the bench and leaned back against the wall.

Maybe he should just kidnap everyone involved and lock them away for a couple of days, at least then he'd know where they were.

"You haven't changed anything."

He heard the words, but he wasn't sure if he'd thought them, or if he'd been given his answer. He lifted his head up, he was still on the balcony, and he was still alone.

"It's the only answer I can give you." the voice told him.

"But I destroyed the console and I've kept Alex away from the artefact. How can you tell me I haven't changed anything." John argued.

"Nothing has been changed."

"Then I might as well give up, because I don't know what else I can do." he shouted.

He stood up and walked over to the edge of the balcony and looked out over the city. Everything looked so peaceful and serene, it was hard to believe that in a couple of days it could all be gone, just a memory.

"You have to keep trying - you're so close - you can't give up."

"So close," John snorted, "You've just told me, that everything I've done hasn't changed a damn thing."

He waited for a come back response, but he got nothing, zilch.

"I want to see you." John told the voice, he wanted – no, he needed, to see who he was talking to.

"Seeing me now, would not help you to achieve anything. You have to trust me."

_Trust, yeah, he knew all about trust, hadn't he just said the same thing to Ronon and Alex, 'trust me' _but his trust in this voice he was hearing, was starting to waver. Mainly because his gut instinct was telling him that he didn't have all the facts on how Atlantis had been destroyed.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

As Alex and Ronon were walking to the mess hall, they bumped in to Teyla, who had just returned from visiting Rylan.

"Hey you're back, how did the meeting with your friend go?" Alex asked her.

"He was well, I'm just glad he decided to stay a little longer so I could get to see him."

"We're just going to grab something to eat, why don't you join us. You can tell me all about him." Alex told her.

"Alright." Teyla accepted the invitation, she looked around, "Where's John?"

"Don't ask." Alex grimaced.

They found a table and sat down, Teyla started to tell them about her friend.

They'd been talking for about half an hour when Teyla took something out of her bag, "Look at this, tell me what you think of it." she said handing something to Alex.

Alex took hold of the piece of metal that Teyla gave to her, her face paled as she looked at the artefact in her hand, her immediate thought was, '_John is going to go ballistic when he finds out about this'_.

"It looks like the artefact that McKay has." Alex whispered nervously, she quickly looked around, convinced that John was going to suddenly appear and start shouting.

"That's exactly what I thought when Rylan gave it to me. He said for some reason he felt compelled to give it to me." Teyla frowned at the angry look Ronon was giving her and Alex.

"I promised Sheppard..." Ronon started to say.

"He said to keep me away from McKay." Alex reminded him, but she understood how he felt. She felt the same, like she'd betrayed him. After all she had promised that she wouldn't touch the thing, yet here she was holding a piece of it in her hand.

"He also mentioned the artefact that McKay has." Ronon reminded her, as he looked at the piece she held in her hand.

"This isn't McKay's artefact, so you've kept your promise." she said, unsure as to whether she was trying to make Ronon feel better about the situation, or herself. She could see that Ronon didn't like her interpretation. Before she could say, or do, anything else, she had a memory flashback, of when she was back in Area 51.

Memory

Location: Area 51

She was sitting at a table, with Kai, and some of the other 'guinea pigs' who were in the same project as her and Kai. A number of boxes were brought in, then various gadgets and artefacts were handed out. Everyone was asked to handle the objects, to see if they knew what any of the things were, or if they knew how to use any of them. There were a couple of things that were recognisable from their memories but for most of the stuff, they didn't have a clue what it was, or how to use it.

Alex remembered holding a small piece of metal, it had fascinated her with the intricate shapes and designs that were etched on it's surface. She hadn't been able to figure out what it was, so she'd tossed it back in to the box that she taken it out of. She'd completely forgotten about it, until now.

End of Memory

"I know where there's another piece of this." she announced, the groan that came from Ronon, told her he was wondering how John was going to react when he heard about this. _Not very well, she thought_.

"Where?" Teyla asked.

"Back on Earth. In Area 51, I remember holding a piece that looked just like this one, and the one McKay has." She wrote down the details of where the piece of artefact was, she even remembered what section it was in. "Could you give this to McKay, I'm not supposed to go near him at the moment." Alex handed the piece of paper to Teyla.

"Why can you not go near Doctor McKay?" Teyla asked, taking the piece of paper from her.

"It's not really McKay, it's more to do with this." she held the piece of metal up that Teyla had given to her.

"Why, what's wrong with it?" Teyla asked.

"You'd have to ask John, but I wouldn't bother asking if I were you, he won't tell you." Alex told her, "How come you didn't visit your friend yesterday?" Alex was curious as to why Teyla hadn't visited her friend yesterday when she was supposed to.

"John wanted me to go with Major Lorne."

"What on Earth for, they were only delivering equipment, why did he need you to go?"

"I really don't know." Teyla still didn't know why he'd insisted that she went. All she'd done while she was there, was stand around waiting for Major Lorne and the others, to set up the equipment and show them how to work it.

"Today, when he found out that you'd gone to visit your friend, he got pretty angry." Alex told her, she looked at Teyla then at the piece of artefact in her hand. _Surely he couldn't have know Teyla's friend would give her a piece of it, could he?_

"Why would he get angry because I'd gone to visit Rylan?"

"You don't suppose this thing could be the reason, do you?" Alex asked, holding the artefact up. "I mean he's been obsessed with the other piece, maybe he knows something about it that we don't."

"Not possible, he couldn't have know that Rylan would give it to me? Even I didn't know about it until I visited him." Teyla said.

"Yeah, it's probably just a coincidence." Alex replied, but she wasn't too sure about that.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

When John couldn't get any more information, or help, he came to find McKay. He'd deliberately, been avoiding McKay as much as possible, but now he needed to find out what he'd learned.

He stood a few feet away from McKay and watched as he concentrated on trying to translate the symbols on the piece of metal.

"So what have you found?" he asked moving closer to McKay.

He didn't respond, he was too engrossed in the artefact to hear anything.

"McKay?"

"Yes...what?" he stuttered and spun around to see who'd spoken. "Oh, it's you."

"Yes, it's me. So what have you learned about that thing?"

"Not a lot, the only thing I've managed to decipher - and I'm not sure if it's correct, is the word 'darkness', and before you ask what that means, I have no idea."

"That's all you've got 'darkness'?"

"Well it's not like I have an alphabet to refer to is it." McKay remarked, he took hold of the piece of artefact and turned towards John "Here, look at this." he said holding it out to him.

John pulled back, he didn't want to touch it, he wasn't supposed to, or so he'd been told.

"What's the matter, it won't kill you." McKay said puzzled by his reaction.

"That's what you think." John muttered under his breath.

"Doctor McKay, I have something I think you should see." Teyla said standing in the doorway of McKay's lab.

"Teyla!" John spun around as he heard her voice. He clenched his jaw when he saw her holding a piece of artefact in her hand.

"My friend Rylan, gave this to me." she held her hand out towards him.

"What is it?" McKay asked turning to look at what she had, when he saw what she was holding, his eyes widened, "It looks like a piece of the artefact." he blurted in surprise.

"Yes, that's what I thought too."

"But where did he get it from?"

"It was given to him as part of a payment, and he in turn gave it to me."

McKay took the piece from her and placed it along one of the edges of the first piece, "Look it fits." he pointed to the perfectly matched edges.

"Does he have any other pieces?" McKay asked hopefully.

"I do not think so, he wasn't even sure why he took this piece as a part payment. He said he only took it because he thought I should have it."

"You're sure he doesn't know about any other pieces."

"Very sure, but Alex told me to give you this." she handed the piece of paper to him. Watched as he read what was written on it.

"I don't believe it, she knows where there's another piece. I have to see Sam..." McKay never finished what he was saying, he rushed off without giving anyone a chance to speak.

John stood there like a statue, _for Alex to know where the location of the other piece was, she must have touched it._

"Did Alex touch that?" he pointed to the piece Teyla had just given to McKay.

"Yes." Teyla could see that he didn't like the idea, "It wasn't her fault. She didn't realise what I was giving her until it was too late. I didn't know you didn't want her to touch it." she tried to explain, but he didn't look like he was listening.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Alex had tried to contact John, he either didn't have his comms in or he wasn't answering her. She suspected it was the latter, because he rarely took his comms out. She'd even gone looking for him, but she hadn't been able to locate him, obviously he didn't want to be found. She'd given up and gone back to their quarters.

"Looks like your daddy is playing hide and seek without the seek." she whispered to Aaron who was lying on the bed playing with his toes.

She tried to stay awake, but once she'd put Aaron in his cot and he'd fallen asleep, she hadn't been able to keep her eyes open, and she too, had fallen asleep.

John had stayed away as long as possible, he hadn't wanted to talk to anyone, and he knew Alex would have tried to explain about touching that thing. He wasn't in the mood to listen, so he'd deliberately stayed away until he thought she'd be asleep. Thankfully she was fast asleep, he took a quick shower and then joined her in the bed. It was a few hours before he managed to fall asleep.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Again his sleep was plagued with nightmares.

This time he was in the Gate room, McKay was standing before him, the fear was clearly etched on his face.

"Why did you do it?" McKay asked him. "Why did you dial that address again. You know how dangerous it is."

"Dangerous for you maybe, but not for me." he laughed. His hand came up so fast that he wasn't sure what had happened until he saw McKay clasping his hands to his neck. Watched as the blood gushed from beneath McKay's hands. The horror and confusion on McKay's face echoed the screams in his head.

Several security men surrounded him, their guns trained on him, telling him not to move. He had no fear of them, his fear was on what would happen if he touched the artefact. It took all his strength and willpower to stop himself from touching it. He knew the consequences of his actions, but it was the only option he had. You could hear the energy from the Stargate building, feel it as the static in the room caused the hairs on your body to stand on end. The sudden blinding flash of light...

John jerked upright in the bed, his skin felt like it was on fire, he couldn't get enough oxygen in to his lungs, his breathing was ragged as he took deep gulps of cool fresh air in to his lungs. He turned to see if he'd woken Alex up, but she was still asleep. There was no way he couldn't go back to sleep, so he got up, took a shower, then he headed to the mess hall.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

1 Day Before Atlantis is Destroyed

Zelenka hovered in the doorway of Colonel Carter's office. She was talking to Major Lorne. He didn't want to interrupt, so he waited until they'd finished. He waited for a few minutes, but when Major Lorne didn't come out, he decided to interrupt anyway.

"Colonel Carter, I need to collect some more samples for analysis." Zelenka said while standing in the doorway of her office. When she looked up at him he continued, "I know you've given strict orders that no one is to go near the room without an escort."

"Yes, I put the area under surveillance, just a precautionary security measure. When do you need to collect the samples?"

"Well I was thinking about collecting them right now." he told her.

She looked at Major Lorne, "Major, would you escort Dr Zelenka."

"Yes, ma'am."

She smiled at Doctor Zelenka, "Okay, you have your escort - how are the tests coming along, found anything else besides Colonel Sheppard's fingerprint."

"No we haven't found anything else, that's why I need some more samples."

"Of course, let me know if you find anything." she reminded him.

"Certainly, you'll be the first to know." he assured her.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Lorne surveyed the debris that littered the room. "So what exactly are you looking for Doc." he asked Zelenka.

"What I really need is something that will tell me what these computer consoles where used for. So far we haven't been able to retrieve any data, so we still don't know what this room was used for."

"Okay, so what is it you want?"

"Any sizeable chunks of computer or computer parts, anything that looks like we'd be able to extract data from it."

They sifted through several pieces of debris, none of which were suitable.

"What about that piece there." Lorne said, pointing to a large piece of computer that was buried beneath a piece of the ceiling.

"Looks promising, help me lift this off." Zelenka grabbed one side of the piece of ceiling and Lorne grabbed the other side, together they managed to move it out of the way.

Lorne picked the piece of computer console up, then almost dropped it when it started to bleep.

"What happened, what did you do?" Zelenka asked.

"I didn't do anything, I just picked it up." Lorne said, handing the piece of computer to Zelenka, "Why is it bleeping?"

"Let's see..." Zelenka began to examine it.

"You don't think it's another bomb do you?" Lorne didn't think it was a bomb, but he wanted to make sure.

"No it's not a bomb, it's showing a map of Atlantis." Zelenka told him, "See that there." he pointed to the bleeping circle that was just visible on the cracked screen.

"What is it?"

"It's a location."

"A location to what?"

"It doesn't indicate what it is, just where it is. We could always go and have a look, it's just along this corridor to the right." Zelenka suggested, he was curious to see what was there.

"We'll need to get an okay from Colonel Carter first." Lorne told him.

Lorne explained to Carter what they'd found and he got an okay from her to investigate further.

"Okay, lead the way." Lorne waved his hand at Zelenka.

It didn't take them long to reach the room.

"I think you'd better wait here, let me go in first, just in case. I mean we don't know what's in there, do we." Lorne said as he moved Zelenka out of the way, then activated the door control.

The doors slid open and Lorne checked all around the doorway making sure that there were no trip wires, or sensors that would activate a bomb. When he found none, he entered the room and checked the rest of it out, it was a typical room just like any other room on Atlantis.

"You can come in now, it looks clean." he told Zelenka.

"Right let's see if this thing can give us an exact location." Zelenka pressed something on the screen but nothing happened.

When Zelenka started to curse in his own language, Lorne smiled, because he knew, without understanding, just what Zelenka was saying. "What's wrong?" Lorne asked him.

"I'm trying to get this thing to zoom in on the location, give us a position inside the room, but it's obviously too damaged to do that." Zelenka told him. "Maybe when I get it back to the lab, I might be able to get it to work."

"Have you tried hitting it?" Lorne suggested.

"Hitting it! You can't do that, this is a very sensitive instrument..."

"It usually works for me." Lorne grinned at Zelenka's outrage.

"Yes, well I am not about to resort to those tactics just yet."

Lorne walked around the room, looking for anything unusual, while Zelenka tried to get the computer to pinpoint to whatever was supposed to be here.

Lorne was getting fed up waiting, "Let me see." he grabbed for the piece of computer.

"Major..." Zelenka said, alarmed as the computer was snatched out of his hands.

As soon as Lorne got hold of the computer the bleeping sound stopped, and the image on the screen changed. "Looks like a layout of this room." Lorne remarked before handing the computer back to Zelenka.

"It is a layout of this room, that's what I was trying to get it to show before."

"See, all it needed was a little rough handling." Lorne joked.

"Yes, well maybe you're right. But right now, I need to see where this is pointing to." he checked the map on the screen then looked up, "It seems to be indicating to that wall." Zelenka told him. "I can't see anything, can you?" he asked Lorne.

Lorne noticed a small shadow on the upper part of the wall, he moved closer to get a better look. "It looks like a switch."

"You think we should push it." Zelenka asked.

"Might as well." Lorne pressed the switch and watched as a draw emerged from the wall.

Zelenka reached in to the draw and pulled out the object that was inside.

"It looks like the artefact that Rodney is working on."

"All this just to find that." Lorne was a little disappointed at their find, he'd been expecting to find something a little more exciting.

"Rodney will be please with the find." Zelenka told him.

"I'm sure he will." Lorne muttered.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"McKay, there's a package here for you, from the SGC." Sam informed him.

In his laboratory, McKay stopped what he was doing, he activated his comm, "Already, that was quick."

"I believe the fact that Alex knew exactly where it was located in Area 51, is the reason it was sent so quickly." Sam told him.

"I'll be right there." he told her, he was already heading out the door as he spoke.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"Have you managed to find anything else out about it, other than the word 'darkness'." Sam asked him when he entered her office.

"No, but that's probably because I only have part of it. And the symbols are completely new, I've never seen anything like them before."

"Well I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Of course I will, I just need a little more time."

"Here you go," she held the package out to him.

"Thanks." he took the package from her and left, eager to add the piece to the other two.

Just as he was leaving the Gate room Radek saw him.

"Rodney, wait up." he shouted out.

"Not now Radek, I need to get back to the lab." he told him as he rushed away.

"But you must see this." Radek shouted again.

"I don't have time, show me later." McKay said waving his arm behind him

"But it's to do with the artefact that you are working on." he saw Rodney's step falter, then he came to a stop and turned to look at him.

"What about it?"

"Major Lorne and I have found another piece of it."

This immediately got Rodney's full attention, "Another piece? You're sure? Where did you find it? How did you..."

"It was hidden in one of the rooms."

"Where is it?" he wanted to see it.

Radek handed the piece of over to him.

"It's another piece." Rodney said absently as he examined it.

"I know, I just told you that."

"That's it, we have all the pieces..." he looked up and smiled at Radek, for a moment Radek thought he was going to thank him.

"I have to go." McKay said talking about putting all the pieces together, he turned and continued on his way to his lab, totally forgetting about Radek.

"Your welcome." Radek shouted after him, then started complaining in his own language about McKay's lack of manners.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

As soon as John heard the alert that told him the Stargate had been activated, he knew what it was, it was the piece of artefact that Alex had told McKay about. The SGC must have found it and sent it through.

He made his way to McKay's lab to see what was going on. He bumped in to Radek who informed him about the piece he and Lorne had found. John gritted his teeth, everything he'd done had been for nothing, he hadn't managed to change anything. He suddenly stopped – that wasn't quite true, he still had one more thing he could try. He didn't want to have to go this far, but it seemed like he'd have to

When he reached McKay's lab he saw that Ronon and Alex were already there. He really wished that McKay had been alone, but he couldn't let the fact that they were here, put him off from what he had to do. Alex stared at him, her eyes full of questions, he looked away, he wasn't here to answer any questions, he was here, specifically, for McKay.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date: **23rd December 2007**  
Author: **Kazavid**  
Chapter: **6/9**  
Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content**  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 6

"Ah, you're just in time." McKay said when he saw John. As soon as he placed the last two pieces with the others, something began to happen. Everyone watched as the four, separate pieces, began to meld together, the edges joined seamlessly to become one complete piece of metal, like it had never been broken.

"Did you see that." McKay said excitedly as he pointed at the artefact.

"You're sure it's not Replicator technology?" Alex queried, alarmed at the way the artefact was behaving.

"Of course I'm sure, that was one of the first tests I ran." he assured her, he went to pick the artefact up, desperate to see what it looked like as a whole piece. But before he could touch it, it aimed a beam of light at his laptop, he quickly, pulled his hand out of the way.

"What's it doing?" Alex asked trying to see what was happening.

"It's connected with the laptop... it's writing something." McKay tried to read what was being written on the screen.

"Writing what?" Ronon asked, looking over McKay's shoulder.

"It's a mathematical formula... something about connecting it to something." McKay told him.

"It looks like a Gate address to me." Ronon remarked, looking at the symbols on the screen.

"That is a Gate address." McKay said, still trying to work out what, exactly he was supposed to connect it to.

"Right, I've seen enough." John snarled, he couldn't stand there any longer and do nothing. He wasn't about to let McKay attach that thing to Atlantis' dialling system.

Everyone looked at him, startled by his sudden outburst.

He grabbed for the artefact, intending to get rid of it. He completely forgot about being told he wasn't supposed to touch it. The moment his hand touched it, he was thrown, forcefully, back, he hit the wall behind him with a loud thud, and sank down to the floor, groaning in pain.

"John!" Alex and Ronon, both rushed over to see if he was alright.

He rolled on to his side, his body shaking with the pain, it felt like he'd been hit with a stun gun.

"Are you hurt?" Alex asked, trying to assess for herself if he was hurt.

"I'm okay," he croaked, "But you need to get rid of that thing, it's dangerous. No telling what it could do to the next person who touches it."

"It's never done anything like that before." McKay said defensively, he didn't want to stop, not now when they had all the pieces.

"It's dangerous, get rid of it." John told him, leaning up on his elbow.

"But..." McKay stammered.

"I want that thing, OFF, Atlantis." he shouted.

Ronon moved towards the artefact and reached his hand out towards it, McKay stepped between him, and it. "What are you doing?" he asked Ronon, he kept moving his body between the artefact and Ronon.

Ronon raised his eyebrows at McKay's blocking tactic, "I'm going to get rid of it." he told him.

"But you can't, this artefact could be of significant value. The designs on it are unique, we've never seen anything like them before, we need to learn more about it. Need to find out where it came from..." McKay argued while trying to block Ronon from getting his hands on it.

"It's dangerous McKay, it has to go." John told him.

Ronon moved McKay out of the way and picked the artefact up.

McKay pointed his finger at Ronon, his eyes wide as he stated, "Look, how can you say it's dangerous, it didn't do anything to him."

"Maybe it's just selective in who it zaps." John suggested, knowing just how true that statement was.

McKay, snatched the artefact out of Ronon's hands, "See it hasn't done anything to me either. It must be something to do with you." he remarked, "Maybe it's the Ancient gene you have, or maybe it's the fact that you seem to have had a problem with it since we first found it." the more McKay talked, the more John could see that Alex and Ronon were starting to listen to him, wonder if what McKay was saying could be true.

"You don't know what your talking about." John told him.

"He has a point though, you have been acting weird since we found that thing." Alex, reluctantly pointed out. His behaviour since they'd found the first piece of Haltia, had been somewhat out of character, and he was hiding something from them.

"Why don't we let Colonel Carter decide what's to be done with it." McKay announced.

John got up, and walked over to McKay, who was clutching the artefact to his chest. When he reached his hand out, McKay tightened his hold on it, he closed his eyes and waited, expecting him to grab the artefact out of his hands. But he wasn't reaching for the artefact, instead he grabbed McKay's comms from his ear and pocketed it.

_He couldn't have McKay contacting Colonel Carter._

"Keep him here, do not let him leave with that thing." he told Ronon, before heading for the door

"But you can't do that." McKay spluttered.

"Where are you going?" Ronon wanted to know.

"I'll only be a few minutes. Just make sure he doesn't leave here."

Alex, watched in silence, she was curious, she wanted to know what John was up to.

"You're not going to listen to him, are you?" McKay asked Ronon.

"Let's just see what he wants to do?"

"Well I'm not staying here to find out what he wants to do." McKay went to leave the lab, but Ronon stepped in front of him.

"Just give him a few minutes." Ronon told him.

McKay glared at him, "Fine." he said, knowing he didn't have much choice, he decided to read the formula the artefact had written on the laptop while they waited to see what Sheppard was up to.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

As soon as John came back, Alex knew something was wrong, he looked uncomfortable. He began pacing back and forth, kept looking between her and Ronon.

"John, what's going on?" she asked him.

"I'm really sorry that it's come down to his." he told everyone, "And I apologise for doing it."

"Doing what?" Alex asked, as a foreboding sense of dread ran through her.

He pulled a stunner out and pointed it forward "Like I said, I'm sorry I have to do this, but if you knew what I knew, you wouldn't blame me."

"What do you know?" Alex asked, she couldn't believe he'd use a gun on any of them.

"He doesn't know anything, he's bluffing. He just wants to get rid of this thing, for what reason I have no idea." McKay said nervously as he eyed the gun John held.

"You can't expect us to believe you'd shoot us." Alex told him incredulously.

He looked at her with a pained expression, "Shoot you? No. I'm not going to shoot you...Stun you..." he didn't finish the sentence, the look in his eyes told her the answer.

"Sheppard, what are you doing?" Ronon felt his senses kicking in to gear as Sheppard turned to look at him.

"I'm doing what I have to." he answered him. He pointed the gun at Ronon, but he had to move out of the way quickly as Ronon lunged at him. He hadn't expected Ronon to just stand there and let him shoot him, so he'd been ready to evade whatever action Ronon took.

Ronon felt the stunner blast hit him, then sank to the floor unconscious.

"Oh, my god, he really has lost it, he's crazy." McKay screeched.

Alex was shocked that John had used the stunner on Ronon. She couldn't alert anyone because she didn't have her comms with her. She darted towards him, trying to knock the stunner from his hand, but he pulled his arm back and grabbed hold of her, she managed to twist out of his hold.

"What's wrong with you?" she shouted, backing away as he moved towards her.

"Nothing is wrong with me, I..." he stopped himself before he said too much.

While John was occupied with Alex, McKay took the opportunity to try and get out. But John saw him and moved to block his exit. McKay shrank back as the stunner was pointed at him.

She tried again to knock the stunner from his hand, she kicked her foot out and connected with his arm, but he had too firm a grip on it. This time he managed to grab hold of her, he pulled her against him, so that her back was pressed against his chest. She kept struggling to get free, twisting and turning, but he was too strong. McKay, tried again to leave the lab, but, again, John pointed the stunner at him.

"I wouldn't if I were you." he bit out, causing McKay to stop in his tracks.

"Alex, honey, stop struggling." he told her, tightening his arm around her, and clamping her arms to her sides.

"Why, so you can stun me too?" she still couldn't believe what he was doing.

"I don't want to hurt you." he told her, pressing his face against the side of her head as he tried to stop her struggling.

"Don't you think it's going to hurt if you use that stunner on me?" she bit out. She kicked her foot back against his shin, he grunted in pain, as her foot connected with his leg.

"I'm not doing this to hurt you, and in a day or so you'll understand why I did it."

"You keep saying that, but you never tell me what it means."

"I can't." he brought his other arm around her, while keeping his eyes on McKay. He kissed the side of her head, felt his heart sink as she tried to move her head out of the way.

"I'm sorry." he whispered against her ear then he let her go.

She turned around to look at him, still unable to believe he'd do it, but he did, he fired the stunner at her. As she was falling to the floor, he caught her, and laid her down, making sure that she was alright.

McKay stared open mouthed at what John had done, "What are you going to do with me?" he stammered, _if he could stun Alex, and Ronon, what would he do to him, he wondered._

"I'm not going to do anything with you." he told him, but that wasn't exactly the truth. "Before we go I want you to disable the subcutaneous implants. Can't have them finding us too soon." John saw the look of horror on McKay's face.

He could imagine what McKay was thinking about him. He didn't want to put the fear of god in to McKay, but right now, at this point in time, it was a necessary evil. He looked over McKay's shoulder as he disabled the subcutaneous implants.

"Done." McKay bit out, then glared at him.

"Good. Now I want you to bring that thing, and come with me." he pointed at the artefact that McKay was still clutching.

"Why?"

"Why? Because we're going to get rid of it."

"Why don't you just get rid of it yourself?"

"As you've already seen, I can't pick the damn thing up. So I need you to do that for me."

They left the lab and headed for the Jumper bay.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Ronon was the first to wake up, he looked around and saw Alex, a few feet away, still unconscious, there was no sign of McKay or Sheppard. He got up and checked on Alex.

"Alex!" he patted her face to rouse her.

"Ooh, I hurt all over." she moaned as her nerve endings, tingled, painfully.

She became aware of where she was, then she remembered what had happened. She sat up quickly and looked around the lab, "John! Is he..."

"No, he's not here, and neither is McKay." he went to alert security, but Alex stopped him, by batting his hand away from his ear.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm alerting security."

"You can't do that, he has his comms in, he'll be listening to everything. If he hears you talking, he'll know we've woken up. We don't know what's wrong with him, or what he'd do to McKay."

"So what do you suggest we do then."

"Is everything alright in here." Major Lorne asked from the doorway, he stared at the two of them sitting on the floor.

"No, it's not alright. Have you seen John." Alex asked him.

"No, you want me to try and locate him?" he went to activate his comms.

"No! Don't do that." she told him quickly.

"Why not?"

"We need to tell Sam what's going on."

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Sam was sitting at her desk, working, when Alex and the others came in. She looked up and smiled, "Is something wrong?" she asked, when she saw the look on their faces.

"It's John." Alex told her. She went on to explain what had happened, and how obsessed he'd been with the artefact.

"Why has he taken McKay?" Sam asked.

"I don't know."

"I've heard a couple of rumours going around, mostly about him being a little snappy, and losing temper. I just put it down to the pace and stress of the job. In fact, I was going to suggest that he take a week off, try to relax. Obviously there's more to this than just stress."

"I don't think it has anything to do with stress." Alex said, "He keeps saying in a few days we'll know what he was doing, and why."

"He hasn't given any hints as to what he's talking about."

"No nothing, he clams up every time I ask him, and won't say anything."

"Major Lorne, I need you to take a security team and apprehend Colonel Sheppard." she told him.

"Yes, ma'am, do we know where he is?" he wasn't looking forward to this.

"Knowing Sheppard, he'll probably head for the Jumper bay." Ronon said.

Sam left her office and moved in to the Gate room. "Chuck, pull up the subcutaneous implant tracking system. Lets see where Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay are."

He pulled up the programme and tried to access it, but it was off line.

"I can't ma'am, it's off line." he told her.

"John must have had McKay do something. He'd know that would be the first thing we'd try." Alex sighed. She was worried about what was wrong with him, she wondered just how far he'd go to do whatever it was he was trying to do. And what would he do to McKay?

"Get Doctor Zelenka up here." Sam told Chuck.

"Yes, ma'am."

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"Keep walking." John pressed the gun against McKay's back, nudging him along.

"Alright, I'm walking." McKay walked a little faster. "Where are we going?"

"You don't need to know that."

John knew something was up as soon as the chatter on his comms lessened. They knew about him, and were trying to keep the talk to a minimum, they didn't want to alert him. He changed direction, instead of heading for the Jumper bay, he headed towards the outer edge of the city. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay away from them for too long, they'd eventually track him down. So he had to make sure that they didn't find McKay.

He reached the place he'd been heading for and told McKay to enter one of the rooms.

"What are you going to do?" McKay asked, turning to face him.

"If you don't want to crack your head open, I suggest you lie on the floor." John told him.

McKay's eyes widened with horror, "Lie on the floor... why?"

John narrowed his eyes on him, and gave him a look that told him he should know why. He pointed the stunner at him.

"You don't have to do that, I've been cooperating with you, haven't I?" he said nervously, he held his hand out in front of him, as if by doing this he could ward off the shot.

"This has nothing to do with you, it's more to do with that thing." John told him, pointing at the artefact that McKay was still clutching to his chest.

"Okay, so here, take it." McKay held it out for John to take.

"Funny McKay, you know I can't touch the damn thing." he bit out.

"Oh, yes, sorry... but if you shoot me now, how are you going to get rid of this?"

"Enough talk. You have five seconds to lie down before I shoot you."

"But..."

"Four... three... two..."

McKay got down on the floor and laid on his back, he closed his eyes as John reached number one, waiting for the painful energy shot to hit him. As the stunner blast hit him, he shuddered with the pain and fell in to an unconscious state.

John tied him up, and gagged him, then made his way back to the Jumper bay. If they found him anywhere near this area, this would be their starting point in trying to find McKay, he didn't want that. Well, not for another 24 hours at least.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John evaded Major Lorne and his team for as long as he could, which wasn't long enough in his opinion. He'd slipped down one of the corridors when he'd spotted a couple of Lorne's men, only to come face to face with Lorne himself.

"Colonel Sheppard, Sir, if you'd like to come with me." Lorne said pointing his gun at him.

"I don't have much choice do I." he said, stating the obvious.

"No Sir, I'm afraid you don't. Where's Doctor McKay?" Lorne asked him.

"Why, have you lost him?" he asked.

Lorne knew Sheppard, well enough to know that if he didn't want to tell you something, he wouldn't. So he didn't bother asking him again. He contacted Colonel Carter, "I have Colonel Sheppard in custody, ma'am."

"Is McKay alright?," she asked.

"Doctor McKay isn't with him."

"Did you ask him where he is?"

"Yes, but he doesn't want to tell me."

"Have your men search the area, see if he's locked him up somewhere. And bring Colonel Sheppard to my office."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Are Alex and Ronon alright?" John asked Lorne as they walked to Colonel Carter's office.

"They're fine."

"Good." he wasn't looking forward to having to face them, nor to all the question he'd be asked. Questions he knew he couldn't answer.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

As soon as he entered Colonel Carter's office, he saw Alex and Ronon, he gave them a crooked smile, then sat down in the chair by Carter's desk. "Sorry about before guys." he looked sheepishly at them as he apologised.

Ronon glared at him, and folded his arms, his look letting John know that his little stunt would definitely earn him a couple of stitches in the training room at some future point. Alex wasn't looking at him with accusation on her face, she looked more worried than anything else. He just hoped she'd forgive him when all this was over.

"Care to tell us what's going on?" Carter asked him.

He looked right at her, he'd love to tell her, "Can't." he replied.

"Can't? Or won't?" she asked.

"Like I said, I can't." he told her.

"Where's Doctor McKay?"

"Maybe you should try the mess hall." he joked, "He probably got a bit peckish and went looking for something to eat."

"Colonel Carter!" Zelenka said from the doorway of her office.

"Yes."

"I've managed to get the programme back on line." he told her.

"Thank you Doctor,"

She noticed that Sheppard didn't look too happy with what Doctor Zelenka had just told her. He hadn't expected them to get the programme back on line so soon. She walked outside to one of the consoles.

"Right let's see if we can locate McKay." she said standing by Doctor Zelenka, as he scanned Atlantis for McKay's implant.

"The programme is working, but I can't locate Rodney's signal." Zelenka told her.

"Nothing?" she questioned, "Try looking for life signs, any that are in unusual, out of the way, places, it's possible he did something to McKay's subcutaneous implant."

"I've already done a scan for any life signs in the unexplored parts of Atlantis, and I'm afraid I came up with nothing." he told her.

"You have a number of rooms on Atlantis that are shielded, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, we have some that can't be penetrated by the sensors... ah, yes, you're thinking he might have put Rodney in one of those rooms."

"Makes sense if you don't want someone to be found.

"Major Lorne, have your team search as many of the shielded rooms as you can. Start from where you found Colonel Sheppard and work your way out. Doctor Zelenka will direct your men to each room."

"Yes, ma'am." he contacted his team and relayed what Colonel Carter wanted done.

John watched Carter come back, she sat in the chair opposite him and stared at him, "You know it won't be long before we find McKay, so why don't you save us the bother of having to search for him, and just tell us where he is."

He didn't say anything, the longer they took to find him the better, as far as he was concerned.

"John, tell her." Alex said from behind him. He didn't turn around to look at her, he just lowered his head down.

"Fine," Carter said, when he continued to stay silent. "Major Lorne, take Colonel Sheppard to a holding cell."

"Yes, ma'am." Lorne stood beside Sheppard and waited for him to stand up. When he stood up two security men flanked him, while Lorne led the way.

As he passed Alex he looked at her, his eyes begging her to keep on trusting him, even after everything he'd done.

"Colonel?" Lorne said as Sheppard stopped next to Alex.

"One minute, Major."

He could see the varying emotions that crossed her face as she looked at him. He cupped her cheek, thankful that she didn't back away from him, "Sorry about hurting you." he told her, he knew it was inadequate as an apology, but he couldn't give her anything else, not right now. He kissed her cheek, then pressed his mouth by her ear, "Trust me... please." he whispered.

Lorne tugged on his arm, "Sir... please."

He let go of Alex and followed Lorne to the holding cells.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Two hours later.

"Ma'am, we've found Doctor McKay." one of Lorne's security men announced over the comms.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked.

"He's fine, just a bit dazed..."

"He shot me!" McKay's voice suddenly blurted through the comms. "He's a nut job, he needs locking up."

"McKay, nice to hear you're fine." Sam butt in before he could say anything else.

"Fine! Fine! I am not fine..." he complained.

"Captain, bring him to my office, please." she told him, cutting McKay off in mid sentence.

"Yes, ma'am."

Sam looked at Alex and Ronon, "Let's see if McKay managed to find out what Colonel Sheppard is up to." she said.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"Looks like they found McKay." security officer, Grayson, told his C/O.

John clenched his jaw, as he sat in the holding cell. He wasn't sure how much time they had left.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>


	7. Chapter 7

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date: **26th December 2007**  
Author: **Kazavid**  
Chapter: **7/9**  
Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content**  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 7

The Day Atlantis is Destroyed

Alex entered the holding cells and saw John lying back on the bench, his arm draped over his eyes. She nodded to Lieutenant Grayson, who switched the force shield off. John looked up and smiled when he saw her, he looked pleased.

"I wasn't expecting you to come and see me." he told her.

"Why would you think that?"

"After what I did."

"Why did you do it?" she asked, hoping he'd tell her, but knowing he probably wouldn't.

"If you came for answers for my behaviour, I don't have any." he told her outright.

"Don't have any, or won't give any?" she asked, as she leaned against the bars of the cell.

"Can't give any." He came over and leaned against the bars, next to her, "Where's Aaron?"

She knew he was deliberately changing the subject, "He's with Teyla."

"And you... are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay. I'm concerned about you."

"There's nothing wrong with me." he told her.

"Yeah, right." she laughed with disbelief, "Have you had any sleep?" she asked, noticing the dark shadows beneath his eyes.

"I got a couple of hours." he reached his hand through the bars and stroked her cheek. "I'm sorry I shot you."

"It hurt." she said looking right in to his eyes.

He groaned, "I know. And I never should have done it, but it was necessary at the time. Besides, when all this is over, I'll give you a stunner and you can shoot me back." he just hoped that they'd still be around to be able to go through with it.

"Deal." she said and watched him smile, she grabbed his hand and placed a kiss on the palm.

"Alex, your time is up." Grayson informed her.

She nodded to him, then turned back to John, "I'll see you later." she told him.

"Sure." he said, reluctantly he let her go.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

McKay and Zelenka were seated across from Sam, in her office.

"The formula from the artefact tells us how to attach it to the dialling system." McKay informed her.

"And you want me to give you the go ahead to attach it." Sam said.

"Well, yes,... of course." McKay said presumptuously, "Isn't that what we'd normally do?"

"Are you sure about your calculations? Did you check everything?" she asked him.

"Yes, yes, of course I checked everything." he told her, he wanted to begin attaching the artefact as soon as possible.

Sam looked at Zelenka, "Doctor Zelenka, what do you think?" she asked.

McKay grimaced and gave a derisive snort, he already knew what Zelenka thought.

"I'm not so sure it's a good idea to attach it to the dialling system." Zelenka told her.

"Oh, here it comes, Mr. Cautious. Mr., don't do anything until you've analysed it to death." McKay said disdainfully.

Zelenka ignored McKay's sarcastic comments and carried on, "I think we need to run some more tests before we go that far."

"If you'd listened to the likes of him, we'd still be back on Earth instead of in Atlantis."

Sam understood McKay's eagerness to push on, if it were her project, she'd be just as eager.

"You do remember how we made contact with the Asgard don't you?" McKay asked Sam, with a slightly condescending tone to his voice.

She pursed her lips at McKay, _of course she remembered how they made contact with the Asgard_. "Your point being?" she asked.

"What do you think would have happened if General O'Neill hadn't built that device to boost the power output? If he hadn't been allowed to attach it to the power supply?" he gave her a smug look.

"You're equating this artefact with what General O'Neill built?"

"Well, yes, I mean how do we know we won't make contact with a race that is equivalent to the Asgard." he pointed out.

She looked at him with an expression that told him, she didn't, for one second, believe that

He backtracked a little, "Okay, so maybe not like the Asgard, but we can't dispute the fact that this artefact is unique. So we have no idea what we'll find when we step through the Stargate."

Since taking over command of Atlantis, Sam had been a little cautious. Due to the fact that her decisions were paramount to the lives of everyone on Atlantis. Sometimes though, you had to take a risk.

"Okay, go ahead and attach it, but make sure you have all the security measures in place, 'BEFORE', you complete the process. Just in case." she warned him.

"Of course." he smiled, eager to get started.

"And McKay, before I give you the go ahead to dial the Gate address, I want you to run through the programme again. Make sure..."

He groaned, "I told you, I've been through it with a fine tooth comb, I didn't find anything that suggested it was dangerous."

"Just humour me McKay." She told him.

He stared at her and saw the 'I am not backing down on this', look on her face, so he gave in, "Yes. Whatever you say." he agreed, she could be as stubborn as him sometimes, so he knew he wouldn't get anywhere until he did what she asked.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

It took a few hours for McKay to complete the process, when he'd finished he stood back and looked at the artefact, which was now a part of the dialling system. All he had to do now was dial the Gate address.

"It's done." he announced as Sam came over to see how far he'd gotten

"Already?"

"Yes, it was a simple case of rearranging a few crystals and reconfiguring a few programmes."

"You do have the security measures in place, don't you?" she asked him.

"Of course I do." he did have them in place, he just hadn't checked them yet.

"You ran through the programme again, checked all your readings?"

"Yes, I've done everything you asked me to do. Now, can we dial the address?" he asked, impatiently.

"I'll see if the M.A.L.P. is ready to go." she told him.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

McKay dialled the Gate address. As he got to the last symbol, he lifted his head up and smiled, "Right then, here goes." he said as he pressed the last symbol. He stared at the Stargate waiting for it to whoosh in to life. When it didn't, he looked down at the console to make sure the address he'd input was correct, it was.

Sam looked at him questioningly, "McKay, what's going on?"

He looked at her, "I don't know, I put the correct address in, it should have activated." he told her.

"It's not doing anything." she pointed out.

"I know that..." he huffed, he didn't need her to tell him the obvious. He started tapping away on the console looking for the problem.

"That's incorrect." Zelenka stated loudly.

"What's incorrect?" McKay turned toward him.

"That the Stargate isn't doing anything."

"We can see for ourselves that it isn't doing anything." McKay told him, he was getting flustered because nothing was happening.

"But it is." Zelenka insisted. When McKay looked at him with a frown, he added, "Doing something."

"Okay," McKay stood up straight and looked at Zelenka, "So what's it doing?" he asked.

"It's building up energy."

"But it hasn't activated, you can see that for yourself." McKay said, pointing to the inactive Stargate.

"It must have activated, look, see for yourself." Zelenka told him, McKay moved to look at Zelenka's screen.

"That can't be right..."_ it couldn't be._

"I assure it is."

"Then where's the wormhole?" McKay wanted to know, he tried recalculating the data, searching for an explanation.

"I did warn you about attaching it too soon." Zelenka said.

"Yes, alright, I don't need your 'I told you so' right now." McKay bit out

"I'm just saying..."

"Well don't, just help me to fix it." McKay asked.

"Can you hear that?" Sam asked, as she became aware of a low, whining noise.

"Yes." Zelenka told her.

As the minutes ticked by, the noise began getting louder and louder, then the whole city of Atlantis began to shake.

"What's happening?" Alex asked as she came running in to the Gate room, alarmed by the noise and the vibrations she could feel beneath her feet.

"It's the energy building up in the Stargate." Sam told her.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John knew they'd dialled the Gate address, as soon as he felt the vibrations beneath his feet.

"Lieutenant Grayson, give me your comms." he shouted at him.

Grayson looked at his CO, he hesitated for a few seconds, he was used to taking orders from Colonel Sheppard, and it was ingrained in him to obey his CO, he handed his comms over.

"Thanks." John put the ear piece in and activated it. "McKay, you have to let me fix it." he shouted, he just hoped he still had time to do something.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"What's he doing, where did he get a comm from?" McKay asked when he heard Sheppard shouting in his ear.

"McKay you need to let me fix it, before it's too late." John warned.

"You fix it! Oh, yes like I'm going to listen to you." he snorted, "And how do YOU propose to fix it?" he wanted to know.

"Get me up there and I'll show you how I can fix it." John said, playing on McKay's curiosity, and need to know.

"You're bluffing." McKay told him.

"Colonel Carter I'm telling you there is nothing McKay can do, I'm the only one who can fix it. I know you don't trust me..."

"Who does he think he is..." McKay spluttered indignantly.

"Quiet McKay, just concentrate on trying to fix it." Sam told him. "Colonel Sheppard, how do you know you can fix it?" she asked.

"Just get me up there." he said, "Look you can have me restrained, have a whole team of security guys around me, but you need to do something, and you need to do it now."

Sam turned to look at Major Lorne, "Go and bring him up here." she told him.

"You want me to restrain him?"

"No, that's not necessary, but have a security detail with you."

"Right." Lorne left to get Colonel Sheppard.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

The vibrations were getting stronger, and the whining noise was getting so loud it was beginning to hurt everyone's ears.

When John entered the Gate room, he went to run over to the dialling system, but the two security guys on either side, grabbed him.

"You have to let me fix it." he shouted over to McKay and Carter.

"So you think you know more than me, do you?" McKay asked.

"I need to see it." he tried to pull away from the security guys, but they wouldn't let him go.

"Let him go." Sam told them.

John ran over to the dialling system and looked at the artefact, he reached his hand out, he was half expecting to get a shock from it, but it never happened. When his hand touched the device it started to glow, the whining noise of the energy build up stopped, the vibrations, ceased. The Stargate whooshed in to life, everyone stared at it, it looked nothing like a normal Stargate wormhole, it was black, and devoid of anything.

"What the hell is that?" McKay asked, open mouthed, as he stared at the appearance of the wormhole.

"Were getting some very strange readings from it." Zelenka announced, he wasn't sure how to explain what he was seeing.

"What kind of readings?" McKay asked him.

"I think you should take a look for yourself." Zelenka told him, he knew Rodney wouldn't believe him if he told him.

As McKay looked for himself, he became alarmed, "No, no, no... this can't be... I checked everything..." McKay sounded very worried.

"McKay, what is it?" Sam asked. When she didn't get a reply from him, she ran over to see for herself what the problem was.

"It's not a wormhole, it isn't connected to another planet." he told her, as he desperately tried to disconnect the Stargate. "It's a portal, and it isn't restricted to just one way."

"I can see that," she said, the more she read, the more alarmed she became. "So anything could come through that thing without having to dial Atlantis?"

"Yes, it's a doorway, it goes both ways." he admitted.

"Raise the shield."

McKay glanced up nervously, "I already tried it, it won't work."

"Then shut the Stargate down." she told him.

He looked even more nervous, "I'm trying, but something is stopping it..."

"McKay, did you have the security measures in place that I asked you to." Sam asked him.

"Yes, I did... I just... I didn't have time to re check them." he told her. Sam glared at him.

"Colonel, we have readings of a large mass approaching the Stargate." Zelenka told her.

Sam looked at Zelenka's console, _'They either had one very large something, or an army of hundreds' approaching the Stargate. _

"I can't shut it down, I need more time." McKay screamed.

"Major Lorne, I want every available security team to the Gate room, immediately."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I want everyone covering the Stargate, I don't want anything coming out of there, nothing, is that understood."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And have all none essential personnel evacuated from the immediate area."

While McKay tried to raise the shield and shut the Stargate down, Sam tried to disconnect the artefact from the Stargate.

The security teams arrived and began setting up positions in the Gate room.

"Ma'am, we have less than thirty seconds before whatever is heading this way reaches us."

"I know." she yelled, "McKay how close are you?"

"I need more time, another minute or two." he told her.

"I don't think we have a minute or two." she told him.

At that precise moment they heard a sudden burst of gunfire. Sam looked up to see what was happening. She could see a small number of men firing blindly at the Stargate.

"Major Lorne, what are your men firing at?"

"We have some kind of entities coming through the Stargate." he told her.

"What entities? There's nothing there." she told him, she couldn't see anything.

"We're out of time, whatever was coming our way, has reached us." Zelenka said as he looked towards the Stargate to see what would come through.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

The first thing that John realised, was that not everyone could see the entities emerging from the Stargate. He looked at Wilson who was standing next to him, he was staring at his colleagues, with total confusion.

"Give me your weapon." he told him.

Wilson couldn't see a goddam thing, but apparently Colonel Sheppard could, so he handed his gun over.

John aimed the gun at, what looked like, a black shadow, that was floating about ten foot off the ground, and fired. He wasn't sure the weapons fire was doing anything, not until the entity exploded like an energy ball, then vanished. He looked around the Gate room and saw several more entities, he fired his weapon at a couple of them and watched as they exploded like the first one.

In all the confusion, unseen by anyone, one of the dark entities escaped by phasing through a wall.

It took some time for them to eradicate all the entities from the Gate room, only then did John move over to McKay and Carter.

"It's done." McKay announced, with a look of relief on his face. He'd finally managed to shut the Stargate down.

"Colonel, what were you shooting at?" Sam asked John.

"Couldn't you see them?"

"See what?"

"They looked like dark shadows." he told her.

"I couldn't see anything."

"Well you're not the only one who couldn't see them, a lot of the security guys couldn't see them either."

Sam looked at the gun he was still holding, he saw her looking at it and smiled, "I suppose you want this back now." he said handing the gun over to her.

"Yes, thanks." she said, taking the gun from him. She turned back to McKay, "I want that thing disconnected from there, now." she told him firmly.

"Of course." McKay said in a subdued manner.

Sam then told the security men to take Colonel Sheppard back to the holding cells. He knew he had a lot of explaining to do before she'd trust him again.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

_Well at least now he'd be able to reveal what he was doing and why, John thought. _He wondered when the being, or if the being, would come and let him know that he'd succeeded.

When he was enveloped in blackness, he thought he was about to find out. But he didn't find anything out, the blackness lifted almost as soon as it had descended. He was still walking down the corridor to the cells, still flanked by two security men. But something was wrong, he felt like a stranger in his own body, like he was no longer in control. And the thoughts that were running around in his head, were definitely not his own.

He attacked the two security men, almost taking Wilson's head off with a brutal flick of his elbow. Lieutenant Grayson tried to activate his comm, John grabbed him by the throat and squeezed, when Grayson lost consciousness he threw him aside. He grabbed a gun from one of them and then headed along another corridor. His intention, to access the dialling system from another console and re dial the address from the artefact.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

McKay was still working on disconnecting the artefact from the dialling system when it suddenly burst in to life.

"Someone is trying to override the security code for the dialling programme." McKay said with alarm, as he frantically tried to stop it.

"Who would do such a thing?" Sam asked.

"I'm just checking that..." he told her, he looked up a few seconds later, "It's Colonel Sheppard's security access code." he told her with disbelief.

"Colonel Sheppard's! Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, I don't just throw random names out."

Sam activated her comm, "Lieutenant Grayson is Colonel Sheppard in the holding cell?" she asked.

There was no response.

"Lieutenant Grayson can you hear me?" she asked again.

Still no response.

She looked up and saw Major Lorne across the room, "Major, would you go and check on Lieutenant Grayson, he was escorting Colonel Sheppard to the holding cells. He's not answering his comms."

"Right away, ma'am." he and two other men left to go and check on Lieutenant Grayson.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"I need a medical team to corridor 7." Lorne said through his comm. "Ma'am, we found Lieutenant Grayson, and Wilson, they're both unconscious." he told her.

"Any sign of Colonel Sheppard?"

"No ma'am, no sign of him. But Wilson is missing his P90, so I'm assuming Colonel Sheppard has taken it."

"Damn it, he seemed alright when he was here." Sam remarked.

"Yes, he does that, one minute he's charming, then the next minute he's shoving a gun in your face." McKay grunted as he tried to keep Sheppard out of the dialling system. "I'm not sure I'll be able to keep him out much longer." McKay admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"Each time I block him, he seems to get better, and faster, at accessing the data. How he's doing it, I don't know, but if he keeps this up, he'll be dialling the Stargate in no time. And we won't be able to stop him."

"Ronon and I, can go and see if we can stop John." Alex said before Sam had a chance to speak.

"Alex, I don't think..." Sam started to protest.

"Please, you can't expect me to stand back and wait. And I don't think he'd use a gun on us..." Sam widened her eyes at Alex's supposition that Sheppard wouldn't use a gun on them, "Okay, if he had a stun gun, then yes he might use it, but not a P90." Alex said, convinced that she was right.

"Alright, but I want Major Lorne, and a security team to go with you." Sam told her.

"Okay."

"Doctor Zelenka, can you do a scan and give us a location for Colonel Sheppard."

"Certainly." he did the scan, "He's in the main chamber in corridor 12." he told her.

"We can meet Lorne in corridor 12." Alex suggested.

"Alright, I'll let Major Lorne know where Colonel Sheppard is, and to meet you there." Sam watched Alex and Ronon leave, "And Alex, be careful." she shouted after her.

"We will."

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>


	8. Chapter 8

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date: **28th December 2007**  
Author: **Kazavid**  
Chapter: **8/9**  
Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content**  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 8

Alex put the stun gun she'd gotten in the holster on her hip, she looked at Ronon as he set his blaster to stun, she hoped that they wouldn't have to use them.

They met up with Lorne in corridor 12.

"Zelenka is Colonel Sheppard still in the main chamber?" Lorne asked him.

"Yes, he's still in there." Zelenka confirmed.

Alex grabbed Lorne's arm, "Let me see if I can talk to him first." she asked him.

"I don't think you should." he told her, he didn't know how Colonel Sheppard would react, he was unpredictable, and he didn't want her getting hurt.

"He knows me, he's not going to hurt me." she said, trying to convince him to let her try.

Lorne, was reluctant to let her do it, but after a lot of persuading from Alex, he finally gave in and said she could try.

They found him easily enough, he was tapping away on one of the consoles. The screen above the console showed that he was still trying to gain access to the dialling system. Alex noticed the P90 resting on top of the console.

"John?" she cautiously approached him, as Ronon, Lorne, and the other security guys slowly took up positions.

He didn't respond, he ignored her and carried on trying to access the dialling system.

"John, what are you doing?" she asked, trying to distract his attention away from the console.

She'd gotten within a few feet of him when he must have realised how close she was. He spun around and stared at her, his eyes gleamed malevolently. He looked around the room, at Ronon, Lorne, the security team, then his gaze returned back to Alex.

She couldn't tell what he was thinking, because looking at him, was like looking at a stranger. Before she could think of what to do, he grabbed her, spun her around so that her back was against his chest, and wrapped his arm around her neck, using her as a shield. He squeezed his arm, tightly, against her throat, as he looked at Ronon and the others with their weapons trained on him.

"You don't want me to hurt her, do you?" John said threateningly.

Alex knew that Ronon and Lorne, were hesitant about firing their weapons, because John had hold of her. But if she had to take a stunner blast, to stop John from gaining access to the dialling system, then so be it.

"Shoot." she told them, causing John to yank his arm painfully against her neck.

"We'll hit you." Lorne pointed out.

"So... just shoot." she told him. John's arm tightened around her neck until she couldn't breathe.

Ronon aimed his blaster and was about to fire, when John, forcefully, thrust Alex from him towards Ronon. Alex went barrelling in to Ronon, who caught her, and stood her upright. He aimed his gun at John, who was now heading towards the door, and fired. The stunner blast from Ronon's gun, hit John, but it didn't affect him, the energy blast radiated across his body and he just seemed to absorb it.

"What the..." Ronon bit out, wondering how Sheppard could still be standing.

John lifted his arm, aimed the P90 at them, and started firing. Everyone scattered and took cover. Ronon dragged Alex behind a wall as several bullets bit in to the surface of the wall, sending pieces of masonry flying out. John took off out the door, with Lorne and the security team following him.

"I think you should stay here." Ronon told her.

"No."

"Alex, he's not himself, you saw that..."

"I'm not staying here."

"Fine, then make sure you stay behind me, because I don't think he'd hesitate in killing anyone, not even you." he remarked bluntly.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Ronon and Alex followed Lorne and his team, but before they reached them, they heard the sound of gunfire. They arrived to see three, of Lorne's four man team, lying injured on the ground. Lorne was kneeling down beside Harper, trying to staunch the flow of blood from his stomach.

"I need a medical team to corridor 17, I have three injured, one critical." Lorne was saying in to his comm. "And send a security team with them."

Alex took a bandage from Lorne and moved over to Lieutenant Chan, she wrapped the bandage around a bullet wound in his arm, which was bleeding, heavily. Adams was sitting with his back against the wall, wrapping a bandage around his thigh, he didn't look too bad.

"You need us to stay." Ronon asked Lorne.

"No, the other security team should be here shortly." Lorne told him.

As Ronon and Alex went to walk away, Lorne shouted out, "Ronon, I don't know how you're going to stop Colonel Sheppard, not without..." he didn't say 'killing him' but Ronon didn't need to hear the words, he knew.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Ronon was ahead of Alex, his gun raised and ready to fire, "Stay there." he told her, as he moved cautiously to the end of the corridor.

He must have seen John because he took off, firing his blaster as he ran around the corner. Alex heard the scuffle, but thankfully she didn't hear the sound of a P90 being fired. As she got to the corner everything went quiet, she held the stun gun tightly in her hand, and pressed her back against the wall, she was just about to take a peek.

John appeared from around the corner, knocking the stun gun from her hand. She jerked back, but wasn't quick enough, he knocked her backwards, sending her sprawling on the floor. He pulled a knife from his belt and moved towards her, she rolled to the side and managed to get up. But he was still looming towards her, intent on killing her. She looked along the other corridor and saw Ronon lying on the floor, she didn't know if he was dead or just unconscious.

John suddenly swung his arm out with the knife in it, arcing it towards her, she pulled back, but the knife still caught her, slicing deeply in to her forearm. She had to back up, away from him as he kept on coming, she went to turn and run but he dived at her, knocking her to the ground. She managed to grab his hand as he tried to bring the knife down, aiming to plunge it in to her chest. It was taking all her strength, which wasn't enough, because she could see the knife getting closer.

The tip of the knife had just pierced her shoulder, when Ronon kicked him away. John stood there glaring at Ronon, then ran at him and started fighting. Alex grabbed her stunner, as she turned around, she saw John swinging Ronon around and slamming him, hard, against the wall, she winced as Ronon's head recoiled off the wall.

Ronon could feel himself about to lose consciousness, he fired his blaster at Sheppard, and saw him fall to the floor, just before he passed out.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"Open your eyes John." the voice told him.

"Go away." he bit out, curling his knees and arms in to his body.

"I can't do that."

"Yes you can, just go away and leave me alone." he wasn't in the mood for this.

"This really is your last chance, John."

"I've had my five chances." he told the voice.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that, I'm afraid I had to mislead you with those."

This got John's full attention, he opened his eyes and sat up, nothing but blackness surrounded him.

"Am I dead?" he wanted to know, had he, or hadn't he, succeeded in saving Atlantis.

"No, you're not dead, but if you don't listen to me, you and everyone else on Atlantis, soon will be."

"You said that before, and nothing has changed." John bit out.

"I know, and I'm really sorry that I had to do that to you."

"Do what? Stand back and watch me fail?"

"I'm sorry I told you that you could change things, when I knew you couldn't."

"You knew I couldn't change anything, then why the hell did you put me through all that?" John snarled, angrily.

"It was something you had to experience. You needed to come to terms with the pain, needed to control your emotions, otherwise you wouldn't be able to do what you have to do."

"There you go again with the cryptic talk."

"If I'd brought you back to this specific point in time, and given you the memories of what happened, you wouldn't have had the fortitude to be able to change anything.

"So now you're telling me that there is something I can change. Why should I believe you?" John asked harshly.

"Why should you believe me? Because I think you already know, or suspect what happened the first time."

John hung his head down, he'd been having too many nightmares lately, and they'd felt too real. This, added to the fact that he knew, he hadn't been told everything about how Atlantis had been destroyed, had made him suspicious.

"I'm the one responsible for Atlantis blowing up, aren't I?" he asked.

"Yes, but you must understand, at the time, you had no choice, or opportunity, to do anything other than what you did."

"The nightmares I keep having, they aren't just nightmares are they, they really happened. I killed Alex, and Ronon, and all the others, didn't I?" he didn't really need the confirmation.

"Yes."

"Tell me what happened." he needed to know what had happened the first time.

"The first time, everything played out as it did now, a little bit different, but the resulting conclusion was the same. The pieces of the artefact were found and assembled, and McKay connected it to the dialling system. When the energy began to build, you tried to remove the artefact, which resulted in you activating the portal. McKay managed to shut the Stargate down, but while the portal was open, one of the entities came through. It can't survive here for long, not without a human form to inhabit. And your particular DNA drew it to you like a magnet."

"So when I dreamt that I wasn't in control of myself, I really wasn't in control, this entity was?"

"Yes, it took control of your body and and you couldn't fight it. This is when your friends where killed, not by you, but by the entity that controlled you. It redialled the Gate, and that's when you were able to assert your will over it. The pain and grief you felt, over what you'd done to your friends, and knowing that if it succeeded in opening the portal, not only would everyone else in Atlantis be killed, but a lot of people on other worlds. So you stopped yourself from touching the artefact, knowing that it would cause the Stargate's energy to build up to explosive results."

"How did I survive? When I first asked you if I was dead, you said 'not yet', how could anyone have survived the explosion?"

"You survived because the entity was still possessing you. As the Stargate's energy overloaded, and it was a fraction of a second from exploding, the entity retook control of your body. It touched the artefact, which created a link between the artefact and you. The artefact then placed a protective layer over you, unfortunately, the layer didn't last long enough, so although you survived, you were badly injured. It's only because you survived that I was able to come back and give you the opportunity to change it."

"So what makes you think that things will be different this time around." he wanted to know.

"Because the first time you didn't know what was going on until it was too late. This time you have had four days to prepare your emotions, and hopefully, you will have the strength to take control of your body."

"I thought you said I took control of my body the first time, that I stopped myself from activating the portal?"

"You did, but it was after your friends had been killed, and after the Gate address had been dialled. This way you'll be taking control of your body before all that happens."

"So where am I now?"

"You're in a corridor, unconscious."

"The entity is still inside me?"

"Yes, it's still there."

"So what do I have to do then?" John asked, but he already had a gut feeling about what he had to do.

"I think you already know the answer to that."

"I have to die, don't I?"

"Yes. You must convince one of your friends to kill you."

"Can't I just do it myself?"

"The entity wouldn't allow you to do that. And you wouldn't be able to stay in control long enough to succeed in harming yourself to the point of death."

"You don't make it easy do you." John closed his eyes for a moment. "Okay, do what you have to." he told the being.

"When you wake up, you will only have seconds to convince one of them to kill you. Then I'm afraid the entity will take over."

"I know there's something else you want to tell me, so just spit it out." John said.

"The only people who are close enough to be able to kill you are Alex and Ronon."

"Damn it, Alex won't do it, I know that, so it will have to be Ronon."

The long silence told John that something else was wrong. "Something else you'd like to tell me?" he asked.

"At the moment, Ronon, like you, is unconscious."

John groaned, he knew Alex wouldn't be able to do it, no more than he could if it were the other way around. "I still can't tell anyone what I'm doing, or why?" he asked.

"No, you can't tell anyone. Not until the time has passed."

"Let's just get on with it then."

"Close your eyes."

John closed his eyes.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

John began moving, he moaned because his body felt like it was on fire, his nerve endings tingled painfully from all the stunner blasts he'd taken. He opened his eyes and saw Alex leaning over Ronon, _damn it, why did it have to be her, Ronon he might have been able to persuade, but not Alex._

"Alex!" he groaned, loudly as he raised his head up to look at her.

She turned to stare at him, wariness in her eyes, as soon as she saw him she knew he was back to being himself.

"John." she said moving towards him.

"Don't!" he shouted, holding his hand up to stop her from approaching him. "Stay away."

"But..." she stopped where she was.

"You have to shoot me." he told her.

"What? Why?"

"It's the only way to stop this."

"Stop what?" she took a step towards him.

"Stop me from accessing the dialling system."

"But you're alright now."

"No, I'm not. You have to shoot me." he told her again.

"If we keep shooting you, it will kill you." she pointed out.

"And if you don't shoot me, I'll kill you, or Ronon. Do you think I could live with knowing I'd done that?" he said, groaning as he felt the thing inside him trying to take over.

"I can't." she cried.

"You have to, you know what will happen if I dial that address again. You saw those things that came through the Stargate, well there are thousands waiting to come through this time, there will be no stopping them."

"You're asking me to kill you... I won't do it." _she couldn't do it, how could he even ask her._

"Alex, please, I'm begging you, shoot me before it's too late." he tried to concentrate on keeping control of himself, but with each second, it was getting more difficult.

"No." she said outright.

She watched as he stood up and began walking towards her, it looked like he was fighting with himself, one minute he was John, the next he was a stranger who looked at her with hatred in his eyes.

"Shoot me." he told her harshly, grimacing as the entity fought for control of his body.

Alex began backing up as he came towards her, she kept on backing up until she couldn't go any further.

"Alex, do it." he told her, he grimaced as if in pain and bent over, clutching his chest. When he stood up straight she could see, he was back to being a stranger.

She raised the stunner in front of her, tears were running down her face, because she knew she had no choice. She saw him change again, he was back to being himself, he stared at her, his eyes pleading with her to shoot him.

She fired, watched as he stopped momentarily, then carried on coming towards her. Again she fired the stunner, again she watched as he stopped, this time he dropped down to his knees. He got up and took a few steps closer to her, his eyes were that of a stranger, but she couldn't fire again, it would kill him, and she couldn't do that.

He got within a couple of feet of her before he was hit by Ronon's blaster, he fell, first to his knees, then he toppled over on to his side. She quickly hunkered down to feel for a pulse.

"Is he..." Ronon asked, but didn't finish the question as he watched Alex perform CPR on Sheppard.

"We need a medical team to corridor 10 in the South sector, Sheppard is down..." Ronon said in to his comm.

"Ronon, what's going on?" Colonel Carter asked.

"Sheppard is down, Alex is giving him CPR." he replied. Ronon, felt helpless as he watched Alex trying to get Sheppard breathing again.

Just then Lorne came along the corridor, he saw what Alex was doing so he took over the compressions, while she gave mouth to mouth.

"Anything." Lorne asked as Alex checked for a pulse, she shook her head and carried on with the mouth to mouth.

Alex was just bending down to give him mouth to mouth, when one of the dark entities started rising from John's body. _No wonder he'd been acting weird, if he'd had one of those things in him, Alex thought._ Both she and Lorne, fell back as they tried to keep away from it. Ronon couldn't see anything.

Alex grabbed his arm and dragged him back.

"What is it?" he asked, confused by her and Lorne's actions.

"There's something there." she told him.

"I can't see anything."

"Trust me, it's there."

The entity hovered a few feet above John's body, the dark mass started to change, began to take on a shape. It's features, and body, looked just like a gargoyle, the kind you saw sculptured on very old buildings, and it's eyes gleamed like vivid red pools of blood. It stopped hovering and began to rise.

Lorne grabbed his hand gun and started firing at it.

Alex got Ronon to change his blaster setting to kill, and she used that on the entity. Whether it was the weapons fire, that killed it, or the fact that it had nowhere else to go, they weren't sure. But as it died, it exploded in a pulsing wave of energy, that sent everyone crashing back against the walls. Lorne and Alex were knocked unconscious, Ronon was just dazed.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"Ronon, are you okay? Can you hear me?" someone was talking to him.

In the distance he could hear the sounds of people talking... "Charge... clear... again."

"We need to get him to the infirmary, I can't do much here." he heard Doctor Keller's voice.

Ronon opened his eyes and saw Sheppard being rushed away on a gurney. He got up and looked around, Lorne was being tended to by a nurse, as was Alex.

"Is Sheppard dead?" he asked the nurse who was checking over Alex. He didn't really want to hear her answer.

"Yes, they've taken him to the infirmary to see if Doctor Keller can revive him." the nurse told him.

"Is Alex and Lorne alright?"

"Yes, they just appear to be knocked out."

Ronon bent down and picked Alex up, "I'll take her to the infirmary."

"Oh, but we have a gurney coming for her."

"I'll take her." he said, giving the nurse no choice in the matter.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Ronon put Alex on a bed in the infirmary, and stood back as a nurse tended to the cuts on her arm and shoulder. He looked over to where Doctor Keller was working on Sheppard, trying to get his heart started, it didn't look like they were having much luck.

He was joined a few moments later by McKay, and Carter.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>


	9. Chapter 9

**Title: **The Last Chance

**Date: **10th January 2008**  
Author: **Kazavid**  
Chapter: **9 / 9**  
Rating: **M**  
Pairing: **John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)**  
Archiving: **None**  
Warnings: **Sexual Content**  
Spoilers: **Anything up to The Seer**  
Feedback: **Yes**  
Disclaimer: **Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.**  
Summary: **Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.

The Last Chance

Chapter 9

"John, can you hear me?"

"No."

"Open your eyes, John." the voice said.

"No." John said, stubbornly refusing to do as he was asked.

"You can't escape the reality of what's happened." he was told.

"Yes I can, so just leave me alone - I can't do any more." he said, refusing to cooperate.

"You don't have to do any more." he was told.

"I don't?" John asked, startled by the reply.

He opened his eyes and was surprised to see that he wasn't surrounded by blackness. Instead he was lying on a bank of ground. Before him, was a smooth, calm ocean, where he could see Atlantis. Complete. Whole. Intact.

"Am I dead?" he asked, moving to pick himself up off the ground.

"Yes, you are."

John closed his eyes, "Did it work? Did I change it?" he wasn't sure what had happened.

"Yes, you changed it, Atlantis will survive."

"Alex and Ronon, I didn't..." he asked, apprehensively, he couldn't remember if he'd hurt them or not. He remembered holding a knife in his hand and walking towards Alex - pointing a gun at Ronon, and firing. But he wasn't sure if they were real memories, or if they were memories from the nightmares he'd been having.

"No, you didn't, they're fine."

John sighed with relief, _at least this way it was only him who died, and not everyone else_. "The entity... is it..." he asked, wondering if it was still inside him.

"It's gone."

"So this is it then." John said dejected, he couldn't help but think about what he'd lost, what he'd never get to see, or do.

"I'm afraid so."

Standing on the bank of ground, he just stared at Atlantis. He thought about how everything would carry on without him. How Alex and the others would live their lives, probably on Atlantis. How he'd never get to see Aaron grow up... he really didn't want to think about this right now, it was too painful. He looked away from Atlantis.

"You said that you'd tell me who you are if Atlantis survived - So, who are you?" he could at least know who, or what, he'd been talking to.

"Do you really want to know?" the voice asked.

John gave a snort of disbelief at this question, "Of course I really want to know." he answered bluntly.

"You must have some ideas as to who I am."

"Well, I'm guessing you must be an Ancient."

"True."

"Are you ascended?" John asked.

"No, I'm not ascended."

"So, who are you?" John asked again.

"Turn around and you'll see who I am."

John, hesitated, then slowly twisted around to look, "Oh, that's just great," he snorted in disgust as he looked at the man standing before him, "This just proves that McKay was right all along – I am a crazy son of a bitch."

The man standing before him, smiled, broadly, "Let's just say that the verdict is still out on that one." he told him.

"All this time I've been talking to myself." John said, as he continued to stare, in disbelief, at the man standing before him. He was wearing dark pants and a dark shirt, and his hair, was short and messy. He stared back at John, with a lopsided smile on his face.

"No, you haven't been talking to yourself, you've been talking to me." the man corrected John's assumption.

"You look just like me, so what's the difference - however you put it I've still been talking to myself." John said, it was like looking in to a mirror and seeing your own reflection. The man was his duplicate.

"The difference is, it's not me who looks like you - it's you who looks like me." his duplicate told him.

"Same thing, isn't it?" John frowned.

"No, it's not the same thing." he was told.

The frown lines in John's forehead grew deeper as he tried to figure out what his duplicate was telling him.

"Where do you think that Ancient gene you have in your DNA came from?"

"You!" John's eyes widened as he looked at his duplicate, _he couldn't be... could he_?

"Looks like the gene wasn't the only thing I passed down. You seem to have gotten my good looks too." he laughed.

"You're telling me that you're an Ancient ancestor of mine?" John asked.

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

"It's Caldeiz."

"Caldeiz. Why are you here... I mean, why did you pick this particular time, or this particular event, to try and stop?"

"Because I'm the one responsible for you being put in this position."

"How are you responsible?"

"A long time ago when we first found the artefact - like you, we attached it to the dialling system. Only that time, the artefact didn't need a key to activate the portal, it activated just by using the Gate address."

"It didn't need a 'key'?" John asked, wondering why it needed a key now.

"No, it didn't need a 'key'. We managed to shut the Stargate down and remove it from the system. That's when we decided that it would be better, and safer, if the artefact was broken up and destroyed. But we found out that we couldn't destroy it. And when we tried to break it up, we could only break it in to four pieces." Caldeiz stopped talking.

"So how come it needs a 'key' to activate the portal now?" John asked.

"When we used the laser to break the artefact up, I entered the laser room to retrieve the pieces. When I touched one of the pieces, it linked itself to me, started to repair itself using my DNA as a catalyst. A short while after that event, I found out that I couldn't touch the artefact without being zapped by it."

"Hurts like hell, doesn't it?" John remarked, remembering how much it had hurt to get zapped by that thing.

"You could say that." Caldeiz laughed at John's use of the word 'hell', a very appropriate word for it.

"How did you find out that it needs a 'key' to activate the portal?"

"Lets just say one of our people wasn't in agreement with us over the dangers of the artefact. He reattached it to the dialling system and dialled the Gate address. The energy in the Stargate began to build up. We tried to disconnect it, but couldn't. Having been zapped by the artefact previously, I steered clear of it. But I couldn't stand back and just watch, so eventually I tried to disconnect it. When I touched it, it didn't zap me, but the build up of energy in the Stargate stopped, and the portal opened."

"So you think by breaking it up, you created the need for a 'key'?" John said.

"Yes, somehow what we did interfered with the artefacts original process. From then on, each time the artefact came together, it resulted in the destruction of the city, or in some cases, the planet, of whoever was unfortunate enough to have attach it to their dialling system."

"Where did it come from?" John asked.

"We never found out, and I still don't know."

"You can't blame yourself for what happened. It just sounds like it was an unfortunate accident to me."

"It looks like taking the blame is another thing we have in common." Caldeiz remarked.

John laughed, y_eah he was always taking the blame for whatever happened. But in his case, that was because he usually was the one to blame._

"How can you..." John gestured with his hands, as he talked, "You know... be here... speak to me – aren't you dead?"

"In the way that you perceive death, then, yes, I'm dead. As to how I'm able to be here, I'm not really here, it's just my image that you can see."

John reached his arm out and waved it side to side, and watched as his arm passed right through the image of his ancestor. "If you're dead how did you send me back in time?"

Caldeiz pulled a small device from beneath his shirt, that was attached to a chain around his neck. "This little device is the reason I am able to be here, why you can see me and speak to me."

"What is it?" John asked, looking at the device which was triangle in shape, with coloured crystals inlaid in to it's surface.

"It's a Temporal Flux device, it creates a flux in the time line, which allows me to transport you through time."

"Where did you get it?"

"This was given to me by an ascended Ancient."

"Why did an ascended Ancient give it to you?"

"Ever since we interfered with the artefact, caused it to need a 'key' to open the portal. I couldn't shake off the feelings of guilt. Every time the artefact came together, and a city, or planet was destroyed, my guilt became worse. Finally an ascended Ancient took pity on my intense need to do something. He gave me this Temporal Flux device, but it has limitations. I can only use it if a descendent of mine was directly involved."

"Me."

"Yes, you."

"You don't happen to know if this Ancient has any spare Temporal Flux devices to give away do you?" John asked jokingly.

"Sorry, no spare ones, but this one," he said, holding the device up, "Will be found, and will eventually be given to Aaron."

"Given to Aaron! Why?" John was a little alarmed by this revelation.

"Because he has your... or our... DNA. That's what I've been telling you, being the 'key' runs in the family."

John hadn't thought about Aaron in that way, he'd been assuming it was just himself who was the 'key'. He didn't like the thought of Aaron being involved with all this.

"I wouldn't worry about it, it's very unlikely that the artefact would ever come together in his life time."

"How do you know that?"

"It usually takes hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years for the pieces to come together."

"How many times has it come together?"

"I don't remember all of them, but the shortest time it took to come together was two hundred years."

"So it could happen?"

"I'd have say that would be a one in a million chance."

"Yeah, well odds never seem to work in my favour." John told him. "So what happens now?" John was wondering what he was supposed to do, where he was supposed to go.

"Now, it's time for you to go."

"Go! Go where?"

"Close your eyes."

John narrowed his eyes, and looked at Caldeiz, "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Why? Because you have a life to live on Atlantis, with your family and friends."

"But you said I was dead." John said, in an accusatory tone, he suddenly felt his heart beat getting stronger.

"And you were dead, but you didn't think your friends would leave you that way, did you?"

"But how..."

"Dr. Keller, it seems, is determined keep you as her patient, and her determination has paid off. Now close your eyes."

"Wait," John shouted, he hadn't finished with the questions yet, he had a lot more he wanted to ask, "So, I can tell them what happened? Tell them why I acted the way I did?"

"Yes, you can tell them everything."

John felt a little relieved at knowing he could tell them what had been going on. But then when he thought about it, he realised that being able to tell them about everything wasn't going to work. They'd never believe him, he closed his eyes, as a feeling of hopelessness descended on him.

"Don't you want to go back?" Caldeiz asked John, because he didn't look like a man who was eager to go back to his life.

"It's not that, I just don't think they'll believe me when I tell them - I did a lot of questionable things..." he said, grimacing as he remembered some of them.

"I can do something about that." Caldeiz told him.

"You can?"

John watched him take something out of his pocket and then he started to write. When he'd finished writing he held his arm out, and showed John what he'd wrote, "See these symbols." he asked John.

"Yes, what about them?"

"I want you to memorize them."

"What for?" John asked.

"It's a password. Input the symbols in to any console on Atlantis, and it will bring up an Ancient data base. It's just like your mission reports, but these ones are mine. I'll leave a detailed report there, your friends can read all about what happened to you, and why you did all the things you did."

After John memorized the symbols Caldeiz looked at him, "Now are you ready to go back?" he asked him.

"Just one more thing?" John asked, lifting his index finger to emphasis the one more thing.

"Yes, what is it?" he wondered what John wanted to ask now.

"What do we do with the artefact?"

He'd almost forgotten about that, "There's a room on Atlantis," Caldeiz went on to explain where the room was, "In the centre of the room, on the floor, is a circle, you must place the artefact on the circle. Then you need to use the observation chamber, from there you will be able to control the laser. I'll leave further instructions in the data base, on how to break the artefact up in to it's four pieces."

"And then what should we do with the pieces?"

"One piece can go back to Earth, and another piece can stay on Atlantis."

"And the others?"

"You should give a piece to SG-1 to dispose of. They will know of someone who can transport the piece to another galaxy."

"And the last piece?"

"The last piece? I was thinking, that maybe, you could take it to the place that I was originally going to leave it."

"And where was that?"

"A friend and I, were headed to a planet that was inhospitable to life. It was a huge mass of boiling, volcanic rivers – still is, if the calculations we took were right. But before we got there, we were captured by the Wraith. That's where the piece of artefact was taken from us." Caldeiz looked at John, with sadness clearly showing on his face.

"Is that where you died?" John asked.

"No I didn't die there, but a very good friend of mine did."

"So you want me to take the last piece to this planet that's practically made of lava?" John asked.

"Seems befitting don't you think, sort of brings closure to it."

"Sure, I can do that." it was the least he could do, after everything Caldeiz had done for him and everyone on Atlantis.

"I'll put the coordinates and the Gate address, in the data base - now, are you ready to go?" Caldeiz asked John, again.

"I guess so."

"Close your eyes."

John closed his eyes, then took a peek, "Will I ever see you again?"

Caldeiz smiled, "The amount of trouble you get in to, I'd have to say yes."

John grinned at him, "Okay then... I'm ready." he said.

Caldeiz watched John close his eyes, then he transported him back to his own time.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"John, can you hear me?" someone was asking him.

"Mm..." he murmured, he slowly opened his eyes and saw Dr. Keller hovering beside him. She was watching him closely, assessing his reactions. He tried to raise himself up, his muscles felt like jelly.

"Please, Colonel, stay where you are, we don't want you falling on the floor and injuring yourself now, do we." she said pushing her hand against his chest until he sank back, against the pillows. "Do you know where you are?" she asked him.

"Infirmary." he answered, he saw Ronon standing a few feet away.

"Do you remember what happened?" she asked.

"Yes, I remember." he said, he felt battered and bruised from head to toe. He turned his head to the side, to look around, and saw Alex, lying on a bed a short distance away. "Alex!" he shouted, trying to pull himself up again.

"She's fine, she has a slight bump on her head, but nothing to worry about. Now lie back." Dr. Keller pushed him back till he was lying down.

"You're sure she's alright?" he asked.

"She's perfectly fine, look." she said, moving to the side so he had a clear view of Alex, who was just beginning to stir.

He settled back against the pillows, and looked at Keller, "Thanks." he told her.

"For what?" she asked, smiling as she continued to check him over.

"For not giving up on me."

"You're my patient, I don't give up on my patients." she told him.

"Yeah, well thanks anyway."

"Colonel Sheppard, nice to have you back with us." Sam came over to stand at the side of his bed.

"It's nice to be back."

"We won't go in to it right now, but when you're feeling up to it, we need to have a nice long chat." Sam told him.

"Of course." he noticed the security guys standing guard, "You really don't need those guys any more." he said, nodding his head towards the two security men.

Sam gave him a doubtful look, "That may be, Colonel, but for now, I think I'll keep them around for a little while longer." she told him.

"Sure," he'd probably do the same thing if he were in her place.

"I'll leave you to get some rest then."

"Thanks." he watched her leave the infirmary.

"Yes, it's er... nice to see that you're still alive..." McKay said, hovering near the foot of John's bed, looking decidedly nervous. He didn't know if he believed that Sheppard was back to his old self, or not.

"Gentlemen, my patient needs his rest, so if you'd like to come back tomorrow and have a chat with him then." Dr. Keller told them.

"Oh, of course, well I'll, er... come back tomorrow then..." McKay said backing up as he spoke, he turned on his heel and fled, thankful to be able to put some distance between himself and Sheppard.

John knew McKay still didn't trust him, and he understood that, he also knew he had some major sucking up to do when he got out of here. He really wasn't looking forward to that. He grimaced, as he looked around the infirmary and realised that everyone who was occupying a bed, was there because of him.

"How do you feel?" Ronon asked, standing beside John's bed.

"Fine, considering everything that's happened." he frowned at Ronon, "How come Keller hasn't chased you out like the rest?" he asked.

Ronon smirked, "She likes me." he said, bragging.

"Since when?"

"So are you back to being yourself?" Ronon asked, ignoring the question.

John let the unanswered question go, he'd get the answer from him another time. "I was always myself." he told him.

"Always?" Ronon said, raising his eyebrows at him. "In McKay's lab when you shot me, and Alex, that was you?"

"Yes, that was me." he admitted, he felt a little uncomfortable when Ronon's look didn't waver.

"And when you shot Lorne's team, was that you?"

"Well, it was me, but I wasn't in control, that thing was."

"And you're sure it's gone – really gone?" Ronon asked.

"Yes, I'm sure it's gone. Don't you believe me?" John asked, he wasn't sure if he'd believe himself under the circumstances.

Ronon looked right at him for a long time before he answered, "I believe you." he told him, truthfully.

"You're probably the only one who does believe me."

"I think Alex and Lorne would believe you. They were there when that thing came out of you." Ronon told him.

"Did you see it?"

"No, I couldn't see it, but Alex and Lorne did."

John looked over at Alex, who was moving about, but still hadn't woken up. He looked back at Ronon, "What happened in the corridor. I remember begging Alex to shoot me, but I can't remember anything else."

"I woke up and saw you walking towards Alex, then I heard you telling her to shoot you. I saw her lowering the stunner, and saw that you were still moving towards her, so I shot you. You dropped to the floor... you were... dead. Alex started doing CPR on you. Then Major Lorne came, he began helping Alex in trying to get you back. That's when that thing came out of you. Alex and Lorne had to leave you, they began firing at the entity, the next thing a shock wave threw us back against the walls, knocking Alex and Lorne unconscious, and dazing me. After that Dr Keller and her team arrived."

"So I wasn't gone that long?"

"Long enough, why?"

"Oh, it's just that it felt like I'd been gone for hours."

"It wasn't hours, more like minutes." Ronon corrected him.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Alex could hear voices, murmuring quietly in the background, it sounded like John and Ronon.

She opened her eyes and turned her head to the side to see that it was indeed, John and Ronon. She got off the bed and walked over to them, as she got closer she remembered what had happened in the corridor.

"Alex!" John looked worried at the pallor of her skin.

"You were dead" she whispered.

"I was, but I'm okay now, see." he opened his arms as if to show her.

Alex reached her hand out and stroked his cheek, as if checking that he was real. A second later she had her arms wrapped around his neck, as she kissed him. His muscles protested at the pressure she was exerting, but he ignored it, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her on to the edge of the bed to lie beside him.

"I'll leave you guys to it." Ronon said, deciding to get out of there before they got too carried away.

John moved his mouth over her cheek and tasted the salty tears, he pulled back and looked at her. "Hey come on it's alright, everything is fine now."

"I know." she sniffled.

"So why the tears?"

"I'm just happy to have you back."

"Come here." he pulled her in to his arms, where Alex pushed her face against the side of his neck. "I love you." he whispered, pressing his lips to the side of her head.

"Love you, too." she said, tightening her hold on him.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Four days later.

"So Colonel, would you care to tell us what is, or was, going on?" Sam asked him.

John was sitting in a chair facing her desk, Alex was standing behind him, McKay was sitting in the chair beside him, and Ronon was leaning near the doorway. Where Lorne and another security officer where stationed.

John explained what had happened to him, how he hadn't been able to tell anyone what he was doing or why.

"And you had exactly how long to come up with that story?" McKay quipped, "Let's see it's been over four days now, and that's the best you could come up with."

John had been expecting such a reaction, especially from McKay, so he was well prepared for him.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me."

"Oh, and what made you think that..." McKay asked sarcastically.

"McKay!" Sam warned him to be quiet.

McKay just pursed his lips and folded his arms.

John wrote down the symbols he'd memorised and handed them to Sam.

"What are these?" she asked studying the symbols on the paper.

"What is it?" McKay asked leaning up out of his chair to try and see what was written on the paper.

"Put them in to a console, and you can see for yourself." John told them.

Sam handed the piece of paper to McKay, "And what are we supposed to find when we put these in to a console?" McKay asked John.

"Just put them in and see for yourself." he told him.

McKay shot up out of the chair and ran over to a console. He put the symbols in to the console and stared in amazement as he saw an Ancient data base open up. It was a new data base, one he hadn't seen before. He quickly opened the files and began reading, and reading, and reading.

"McKay?" Sam said, "What is it?" She asked when he didn't relay what he was reading.

"He's telling the truth." McKay said flabbergasted by what he was reading. Everything Sheppard had told them was true. "But how did he send you back in time? And why couldn't you tell us what was going on? Why..." the questions came thick and fast.

John raised his hand up to halt McKay's questions, "Alright, McKay, enough with the questions. I don't know exactly how he did what he did. He had a device he called a Temporal Flux, plus he also had help from an ascended Ancient..."

"Where is this Temporal Flux?" McKay jumped at the opportunity to ask the question.

John was just about to tell him that it would be found and given to Aaron, but he stopped himself. _If he told McKay that, he'd never hear the last of it._

"I don't know where it is." John replied, _which was the truth, he didn't know where it was. He might know where it was going to be, in the future. But that was another matter._

_>>>>>ooooo>>>>>_

They found the laser room and broke the artefact up in to it's four pieces. They put one piece back in the secret cache where Lorne and Zelenka had first found it. Then they sent two pieces back to Earth, one to be returned to Area 51, the other piece was given to Cameron and Daniel to hand over to one of their allies to be disposed of.

The last piece was left for John to get rid of.

"McKay, you ready?" John asked.

"Yes, ready." McKay carried the case in to the Puddle Jumper and placed it next to him as he sat down. In the case was the last piece of the artefact.

"Right, time to finish this." John said, then drove the Jumper in to the active wormhole.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

"So, McKay, you want to do the honours?" John said as he brought the Jumper as close to the planets surface as he could get.

Even with the shield in place, the heat, emanating from the rivers of lava that covered most of the surface of the planet, was intense.

"Oh, yes... you still can't touch it?" McKay asked unnecessarily.

"Still can't touch it." John told him.

McKay got in to position and waited for John to open the back of the Jumper up. When the Jumper door was open enough, he threw the piece of artefact out. As it hit the lava below a huge spurt of fire shot up in to the air.

"It's done." McKay told him.

John closed the back of the Jumper. "Let's go home."

"Fine by me."

Ten minutes in to the journey John glanced at McKay who'd been concentrating on his laptop, ever since they'd left the planet.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Mm, what?" McKay asked lifting his head up to look at him.

"You've had your head stuck in that thing since we left the planet, what's so interesting?"

"Oh, I downloaded some reports from the new data base."

"What kind of reports?"

"Most of them are about your ancestor."

John was intrigued, "Anything interesting?" he asked, looking at McKay expectantly.

"Actually quite a bit."

John waited to for McKay to tell him what it was, but McKay just lowered his head down and carried on reading.

"McKay!" John shouted.

"What?" McKay asked startled, lifting his head back up, "Oh, you want me to tell you."

John just looked at him.

"Well for one thing he was offered the command of his own, Orion class ship, but he turned it down."

"Turned it down! Why?"

"Apparently he preferred the work that he was already doing."

"And what kind of work was that?"

"He did Special Ops missions - you know something similar to the SAS, or Delta Force. There are a number of reports about some of the missions he and his friends carried out."

The more John heard about his ancestor, the more he liked him. Shame he was dead, they could sure use a guy like that.

"So what else have you got there?" he asked, leaning over to peek at McKay's laptop.

For the rest of the journey McKay read out all the reports and missions that he'd downloaded.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Caldeiz stood on a bank of ground, and watched from a distance as the Puddle Jumper returned from it's mission, watched it hover down in to the docking tube. Atlantis was safe, for now. He stayed around for a while longer, admiring the beautiful view of Atlantis as it's lights twinkled and gleamed across the ocean.

He felt a tug on the bottom of his shirt and turned to look at the dark haired child standing beside him.

"What?" he asked her.

"When do I get to be born?" she asked, looking up at him with curiosity etched in her green eyes.

"Not for a while yet." he told her, stroking his hand over her head. He smiled when she pouted with disappointment.

He picked her up in his arms where she rested her head on his shoulder and fell asleep.

He closed is eyes as they both became shimmering lights that just faded away to nothing.

The End...


End file.
